Is TextNow safe to use?

TextNow integrates 40 third-party SDKs spanning advertising, infrastructure, and analytics. Its App Store privacy label declares cross-app tracking via Contact Info and Identifiers. It collects data linked to your identity including Purchases, Location, Contact Info, and Contacts and 4 more categories. It includes 23 advertising or attribution SDKs. Whether this is acceptable depends on your personal privacy preferences.

What permissions does TextNow need?

TextNow requests 14 iOS permissions: App Tracking Transparency, Camera, Microphone, Contacts, Photo Library, Location (When In Use), Location (Always), Location (Always & When In Use), Calendars, Save to Photo Library, Reminders, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Peripheral, and Apple Music.

What data does TextNow collect?

According to its App Store privacy label, TextNow declares cross-app tracking via Contact Info and Identifiers. It collects data linked to your identity including Purchases, Location, Contact Info, Contacts, User Content, Identifiers, Usage Data, and Diagnostics. It collects Usage Data not linked to your identity.

How many SDKs does TextNow have?

TextNow integrates 40 third-party SDKs. 22 for advertising, 1 for attribution, 2 for analytics, 3 for infrastructure, and 11 for other.

Does TextNow use Facebook tracking?

Yes. TextNow includes 3 Facebook SDKs: Facebook AEM, Facebook SDK, and Facebook Login. These are used for ad measurement, attribution, and integration with Facebook's advertising platform (developers.facebook.com).

Does TextNow use Google SDKs?

Yes. TextNow includes 2 Google or Firebase SDKs: Google Interactive Media Ads (IMA) and Google AdMob. These are primarily used for advertising.

Does TextNow use App Tracking Transparency?

Yes. TextNow requests the App Tracking Transparency permission, which means it asks for your consent to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites.

Does TextNow access your location?

Yes. TextNow requests location access. The developer states: "Your location will be used for 911 emergency calls and to automatically find you a phone number in the nearest area code.".

Does TextNow access your camera or microphone?

TextNow requests access to both your camera and microphone. The developer says camera access is for "Accessing the camera will allow you to take and send photos to your contacts in TextNow". Microphone access is for "Accessing the microphone will allow you to have a phone call with your contacts in TextNow". These permissions are only active when you grant them in iOS Settings.

Does TextNow access your contacts?

Yes. TextNow requests access to your contacts. The developer states: "Your contacts will be used to provide calling and texting functionality with the numbers already on your device. When friends & family call or text you, you'll be able to see their names, rather than just their phone numbers.".

Does TextNow run in the background?

Yes. TextNow registers 4 background modes, which means it can perform certain tasks when you're not actively using it.

What are some alternatives to TextNow?

Other social networking apps include Yik Yak , 3F , AM , Backbone , BeReal. , and BiP . Each app takes a different approach to social networking and varies in its data collection and SDK usage.

Social Networking · Privacy report

TextNow: Call + Text Unlimited

Free · ★4.8 · TextNow, Inc.

Is TextNow safe?

It leans heavily on third-party trackers.

Our take. TextNow is built with more third-party tracking code than 99% of the social networking we have scanned, including an analytics SDK from India.

Privacy footprint · vs 97 social networkingHeavy

Trackers from other companies25 · a lot

typical social networking: 4

Data the app links to you8 types · some

typical social networking: 5 · from its own privacy label

What it collects about you

TextNow links 8 categories of your data to you.

From the developer's own App Store privacy label. These are the kinds of data TextNow ties to your identity, and it also declares it shares data to track you across other apps.

PurchasesLocationContact InfoContactsUser ContentIdentifiersUsage DataDiagnostics

Who else is inside

It carries trackers from 8 companies.

Third-party SDKs found in the app, matched to the company that publishes each. Present in the code; we do not observe what they transmit.

🏢Other third partiesadvertising

A third-party SDK.

SDKs

🇺🇸MetaAdvertising

Facebook advertising SDKs, built to link app activity to Facebook and Instagram ad profiles.

SDKs

🏢Messaging SDKMessaging

Push notification and messaging platform.

SDKs

🇺🇸AppLovinAdvertising

A mobile advertising and monetization network.

SDK

🇺🇸GoogleAnalytics

Firebase, AdMob and Google analytics SDKs, built to record how you use the app and serve ads.

SDK

🇮🇳InMobiAdvertising · India

A mobile advertising network.

SDK

🇺🇸LiftoffAdvertising

In app video advertising network.

SDK

🇩🇪AdjustAttribution · Germany

Marketing attribution, built to tie installs and in app events back to ad campaigns.

SDK

How it compares

Where it sits among social networking.

Every one of these apps we have scanned, on the two measures above: third-party trackers it carries (across) and data it links to you on its own label (up). Toward the top right is more invasive.

Each dot is one social networking app. TextNow sits to the right, carrying more third-party tracking than most.

Other signals

Two more flags.

Each is a fact read straight from the app. The same checks run on every app we scan. Only the ones that apply here are shown.

It declares cross-app tracking

Its own App Store label says it tracks you across other companies apps and websites using your advertising identifier.

It sends analytics to a company in India

InMobi is a India company. Its analytics SDK is built into the app.

The evidence

What it's built from.

All 40 SDKs in the app, grouped by what they are for. 25 are third-party trackers.

22advertising

1attribution

2analytics

15standard libraries

25 of the 40 are third-party trackers. The rest are the app's own code and standard open-source building blocks.

Show the full SDK list

Other third partiesadvertising

Amazon Publisher Services (DTB) · Digital Turbine Exchange · Google Interactive Media Ads (IMA) · Digital Turbine (InnerActive) · LiveRamp ATS · Moloco Ads · Nimbus Ads Core · Nimbus Ads · Nimbus Ads Render · Nimbus Ads Render Static · Nimbus Ads VAST · Nimbus Ads Request · Open Measurement SDK (Nimbus) · Google UMP (Consent)

MetaAdvertising · USA

Facebook AEM · Facebook Audience Network · Facebook SDK · Facebook Login

Messaging SDKMessaging

Braze · Braze Location

AppLovinAdvertising · USA

AppLovin

GoogleAnalytics · USA

Google AdMob

InMobiAdvertising · India

InMobi

LiftoffAdvertising · USA

Vungle Ads

AdjustAttribution · Germany

Adjust Signature

Standard libraries15 · on-device

The app's own code plus open-source interface, storage and networking libraries.

How we know this

Counterspy downloads the app from the App Store and statically analyzes its compiled binary. Embedded SDKs are matched against a signature database and resolved to the company that operates each. We also read the developer's App Store privacy label, which lists the data the app says it collects and links to you. We do not run the app or intercept its traffic, so we report capabilities present in the code and the developer's own disclosures, not proven transmission. We assess privacy and data collection, not malware, security flaws, or developer intent. Reports are automated and never edited for payment. Scan v26.13.0, 2026-04-03.

Third-party trackers are advertising, analytics and attribution SDKs detected by static signature matching. Presence shows a capability is compiled in, not that it ran or transmitted data.
"Data the app links to you" is the count of data categories the developer declares as Data Linked To You in its App Store privacy label. Labels are self-reported and not verified by Apple.
Comparison across the 97 social networking in our corpus. Trackers: median 4. Data linked to you: median 5.