mjoy – Free International SMS

Posted on November 26, 2008 by Dennis Bournique

Here is a new service that promises to make sending and receiving text messages free, and that includes international texting. It’s called mjoy and is a product of German based, Venista Group. I tried the service and it works and is free, although there are some limitations. Your SMS are free because they are sent from a mobile (or PC) web interface. So they are only “free” if you have an unlimited data plan or stay within the limits of your data bundle.

Here’s how it works:
1. Sign up at mjoy.com using your mobile or PC browser. Initial registration asks for your country and mobile phone number.
2. You will receive a text with a special sign up URL, open it in your mobile browser and complete the registration process by choosing an ID and password.
3. Send your texts from within the mjoy mobile web app (2nd image). The person who receives the text will see that it came from your mobile number. A message reading “Text for FREE with http://mjoy.com” is appended to every message.
4. If the recipient replies to the message in the normal way, by hitting “Reply” in their phone’s inbox, replying won’t be free for them and if you pay for incoming messages it won’t be free for you to receive either.
5. If you convince your friends to sign up for mjoy then you can text with them for free using the mobile web. Messages sent to mjoy members end up in their inbox in the mjoy web app (3rd image) rather than in the phone’s SMS inbox. Web based mjoy messages can be of unlimited size and there is a nice threaded messaging interface.

The killer feature of mjoy is obviously being able to send texts for free to almost anywhere in the world. mjoy is available in about 180 countries from Afganistan to Zimbabwe including the US, Canada, all of Europe, India, China, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and even Cuba. The only country I noticed as missing was North Korea.

None of this is exactly new; GizmoSMS, text4Free and txtDrop all offer similar services, but only from a “full web” site rather than a mobile one, although these sites are usable in mobile full web browsers like Opera Mini or mobile Safari. mjoy’s most direct competitor is probably the well established social network Wadja which lets members send texts for free to any number from the Wadja mobile web site.

mjoy has a nice clean texting-focused user interface, although it doesn’t seem quite finiished yet. You are supposed to be able to add your contacts to mjoy so that you don’t have to key their phone numbers every time. However, I get the message “Addressb.book service temporarily not available” when I try to use it.

I’m never completely comfortable giving my mobile numbers to new web services like mjoy. There’s always the fear that I’ll end up being bombarded with unwanted messages, possibly even premium messages. mjoy has a privacy policy and a terms of service page. I far as I could determine from the legalese, mjoy won’t send you premium messages but will send notifications of new messages in your inbox, which if you pay for incoming messages, kind of defeats the whole free messaging thing.

One limitation of mjoy for me is that your account is linked to a single phone number. You can change the number and when you do mjoy sends a text to the new number with a link to validate that number. I’d like to see something more like the way GrandCentral works, were you can set up multiple numbers on your account and switch between them instantly as you switch phones.

mjoy is ad supported. There are a couple of ads on each page of the site but no ads embedded in messages. There is also a search page included as a part of mjoy which offers Google, YouTube and Amazon search. The Amazon results include affiliate codes so mjoy gets a small percentage of the cost of anything you buy through them.

Sending texts through messaging aggregators and carrier gateways costs real money, a couple cents per SMS. I don’t see how mjoy can cover this cost with just Adsense and Amazon affiliate revenues. Venista plans to add social networking features and more online shopping including the sale of wallpapers, ringtones and full track music downloads, which should generate considerably more income.

Free messaging is a tough business but could be viable if used as a “hook” to drive customers to other non-free services. I hope mjoy can make it work as messaging is one of the biggest ripoffs in mobile with most carriers in the US now charging 20 cents for each message sent or received. I’d love to see someone provide a viable free or low cost alternative. Source: HDvoice

Filed in: Wap Review Directory – IM-Chat-SMS

Ratings: Content: Usability:

Mobile Link: mjoy.com

Related Post: Wadja

131 thoughts on “mjoy – Free International SMS”

Quaid on October 21, 2009 at 10:33 am said:

Thnx for suggesting a good option, btw i just sent 2 sms,

1) in Tanzania
2) my own number

i was given 40 credits but as soon as i sent the first sms, my credits came down to 19, and when i sent the 2nd one, it came down to 11… Can you tell me what are the number of credits charged? and how do we get more credits. and how many credits are we given in a day???
Dennis Bournique on October 18, 2009 at 9:32 am said:

Mjoy is a mobile only service. You are supposed to access it with a mobile phone only.

If you want to send an SMS from Mjoy using a PC browser you can use Firefox with the User Agent Switcher plugin to fool Mjoy into thinking you are using a phone browser
Quaid on October 18, 2009 at 1:27 am said:

Where is the login link on the site? Or we have to use this service from our cell??? cant i send sms using my Computer???
Dennis Bournique on September 1, 2009 at 9:12 pm said:

chidi, as I don’t work for mjoy I can’t really do much to help you. As I remember you just click on a link in the email to activate. If that doesn’t work you will have to contact mjoy at [email protected] for help.
chidi on September 1, 2009 at 10:01 am said:

please i can’t register or rather verify my account with my mobile i nead help cause i dont understand the text i recieved on my early registration . thanks for your maximum co-operation in as you guys assist me .i’ll be grateful
Rish on August 4, 2009 at 7:18 am said:

if you are not in mjoy i dont kow what you are waiting for.
it saves you to send sms to outside countries.
thanx alot mjoy.you are the answer to our prayer of economic crisis.
does anybody know how to send via pc?
Dennis Bournique on July 28, 2009 at 8:57 am said:

Osayande, I have no connection with Mjoy, you need to contact them directly at [email protected] for support.
Osayande joshua on July 28, 2009 at 3:29 am said:

I am joshua osayande from nigeria, if i fill in d security sugested it will say invalid.Please send me security code 4 nigeria.My email is …. Text me how to complete my registration
milky on June 24, 2009 at 1:07 pm said:

hello guys.if im using PC mjoy not working. how many time im trying it. than am using mah phone it is work..anybody to help me how to send sms thru PC….THANKYOU
mohammad on May 10, 2009 at 11:28 pm said:

hi,i can not speak english very well,i live in iran, i can not open mjoy, when open mjoy color of mjoy is red. isnt black. please help me
thanks
Dennis Bournique on March 25, 2009 at 2:29 pm said:

Akhil,

I have no connection with Mjoy so there’s really nothing I can do. You have to contact Mjoy for help at [email protected]
Akhil on March 25, 2009 at 12:38 pm said:

I m sucessfuly entred in step 2 while registration but i haven’t got any confirmation message stil rite now on my mobile! my registrating process can’t move to step 3! Plz help me i beg to u
Kenneth Sena on March 24, 2009 at 3:06 pm said:

their services are free at all… everyone should try it.
siladitya on March 23, 2009 at 9:39 pm said:

I have a free sms soft. so I want to register this soft from you authoriseason.
Charles Johnson on March 16, 2009 at 10:36 am said:

Guys,
I tried free SMS provided by SMSFree4all.com there service is free. I been using their service for many months. I never received any kind of SPAM. I believe they operate off ads they run. They are totally safe and free. I can prove it!
James ted on March 10, 2009 at 8:05 pm said:

I will like to send sms to Philippines with confirmation of recipient on my phone , where can that be possible. I am in UAE
NinaD on March 9, 2009 at 11:21 pm said:

i want sms site dat can snd txt msgs to pakistan ,,y mjoy msgs nt delivrd to pak
grace on March 6, 2009 at 1:00 am said:

gud afternoon, i’m just wondering why mjoy is no longer working on pc. thanks
Dennis Bournique on March 4, 2009 at 12:28 pm said:

Sanky,

I’m sorry to hear that you are having problems with mjoy. Unfortunately, I don’t work for mjoy and can do much to help you.

The only think I can suggest is clearing your browser cache and cookies if possible.

If that doesn’t work try contacting mjoy directly at [email protected]
Sanky on March 4, 2009 at 12:01 pm said:

Hello mjoy.I m a registered user of mjoy and have been using it successfully for a few months now,mjoy browser works only on Opera internet browser but now it has suddenly even stopped working in opera too,i even tried using other browsers but it does work in them.Please help me solve this problem.Thank u mjoy.
Dennis Bournique on March 3, 2009 at 10:19 am said:

@sunday,

Sounds like you are on Verizon! If your phone doesn’t let you access the link in the text message, you will have to retype the URL in your PC or mobile browser.

Or perhaps you can forward the text message to your email and click the link in your pc browser.
selembu on March 3, 2009 at 8:36 am said:

The site is really good go to ur msg inbox then go to options the go to use url then go to connect
sunday on March 3, 2009 at 7:04 am said:

i tried to register but i could’nt access the linke sent to my mobile phone.any other way i can register?
vijay on March 2, 2009 at 4:00 am said:

i like this web site
selembu on February 28, 2009 at 8:09 pm said:

Please help have tried all of the above sites but didn’t work on my phone. i need free sms mobile site to Kenya thanks
Ngi on February 25, 2009 at 9:06 pm said:

i registered my country and phone number and i received the special sign on my mobile. the link sent to me is getting me nowhere. pliz help me complete my registration
Nadeer on February 1, 2009 at 2:10 am said:

Please can i know my account .
iyna_de on January 31, 2009 at 10:42 pm said:

great site
Tonmoy on January 29, 2009 at 6:56 am said:

Dennis Bournique

http://smsfree4all.com/free-sms-bangladesh.php
this site was not work for me. i would like to send free sms to bangladesh. help me……………………

plz give me another site.
Kivuti cyrus on January 29, 2009 at 5:09 am said:

This is great thing it will enable internet user way to express there love to there loved ones keep it up. chaw
kelvin on January 29, 2009 at 1:49 am said:

u people have being doing a nice job, keep it up. dis is d best site i have browsed through in time past, may god bless u all. thanks
kay on January 24, 2009 at 9:24 pm said:

hi a question.

1.so if i send massages to a mobile phone from this site it will be?
2.if the my friend got the my massage and press on the link bellow, he have to pay?
3. how much i have to pay for replayed massage?
4. how i can reply completly for free?

plz tell me how.
Dennis Bournique on January 23, 2009 at 10:24 am said:

@superkikim, As I said in the original post, mjoy is ad supported (AdSense, Amazon) and plans to begin selling wallpapers, ringtones and full track music downloads.

The free SMS is a “hook” to get you on the site so that they can try and sell to you. Is this a viable business model? I don’t know, but it’s certainly a tough one, some similar services like Teleflip have failed.

Your point about security is very valid. I always worry about where my number is going to end up particularly if the service goes broke and it’s assets are liquidated.

A safer way to send free SMS is by using your phone’s email client to send messages through the email to SMS gateways operated by most mobile operators. There’s a good list of gateways at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateways#Carrier-provided_email_or_web_to_SMS_gateways
superkikim on January 23, 2009 at 10:09 am said:

I wonder…

Why is it free ! How do they get paid ? What are the odds to be in a list sold for SMS or phone spamming later ?
Dennis Bournique on January 12, 2009 at 10:50 am said:

@nasim,

Did you try mJoy? They claim to support SMS to Bangladesh.

Another one that looks like it should work is:

http://smsfree4all.com/free-sms-bangladesh.php

BTW, it’s unwise to post your phone number on the Web. Any one could sign you up for premium SMS services that will quickly empty your account or run up a big bill.
nasim on January 12, 2009 at 10:22 am said:

i would like to send free text sms to Bangladesh !!! But how? Plz help me….. Nasim, France [Phone number removed]
GeekLad on January 7, 2009 at 5:41 am said:

http://foreversms.com is another free web service for sending text messages in the USA. You can also send text messages right from iGoogle with my ForeverSMS google gadget.
Pingback: Mjoy – Java App Lets You Send Free Texts Around The World | BerryReview.com »
San on January 6, 2009 at 6:58 am said:

But I like wadja.com even if there is a limit on sms per day. It covers almost all countries!
ruja on December 27, 2008 at 9:07 am said:

not available in nepal, bangladesh
Petre on December 24, 2008 at 11:15 am said:

CRACIUN FERICIT
Dennis Bournique on December 22, 2008 at 9:14 am said:

@Munib,

Pakistan is in mjoy’s list of supported countries. Have you tried to use it to send to a Pakistan phone number?

If it doesn’t work you should submit a bug report to mjoy at [email protected]
Munib on December 22, 2008 at 8:44 am said:

sorry 2 say sir but u noticed dat korea was not dere but u did not noticed dat Pakistan was also not there!!!
Dennis Bournique on December 18, 2008 at 1:05 pm said:

@chandan,
There are lots of services that let you send free international SMS from a PC. Here are three you can try:

http://gizmosms.com/
http://www.text4free.net/
http://www.txtdrop.com/
chandan on December 18, 2008 at 11:56 am said:

sir i wanna make free international sms from my pc to mobile how can i?
percy on November 30, 2008 at 1:25 pm said:

thanks Patrique for telling such a wonderfull site it has said that the msg has been delivered…hope so that its true…
v dont require 2 put in the country code or name or anything else for sending the msg..niether r v required 2 fill our mob num..
jbpseudo on November 29, 2008 at 1:54 am said:

Oops. I didnt see this is a web only sms service, doh! On the other hand 160by2 is a web to inbox(phone’s) service. Then i gotta wait for the right substitute.
jbpseudo on November 29, 2008 at 1:33 am said:

I am gonna try this. I am tired of the 160by2’s character limit. Thanks for the indepth review :)
Patrique on November 27, 2008 at 1:33 am said:

I am using http://www.wadja.com for more than one year. I don’t understand why you have to find a new similar service. You can send SMS worldwide from your pc and from your mobile, too. And the best they haven’t been spamming me.
If you select your mobile number to appear to the sender field then your friend just replies to you and you don’t have to pay anything to wadja.
Naiyer on November 26, 2008 at 3:54 pm said:

I had been using http://twitter.com and http://m.160by2.com for short messaging to my contacts in India.Sadly,these services are pretty limited.They work very well in India.Twitter offers unlimited updates and 160by2 offers 50 ad supported messages per day for free.I have been looking for something like mjoy to keep up with my international contacts via SMS.Thanks for your review.I’ll try this service.

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