Texting apps for iPod Touch?

[oneplustwo]

We'd like to add a texting app to DD's iPod Touch so she can use it to contact DH and me as needed and to start texting with her friends. She's in middle school. I was looking at apps like TextFree and TextPlus, but I keep finding stories about strangers being able to text and send inappropriate pictures and the like for these apps, even when everything is set up right on the parent's and kid's end. Does anyone use a texting app for their kid's Touch that they find works well and offers good privacy/security? Or am I dreaming that something like this exists? TextFree looked better a year ago, before they added the ability to send pics along with texts, for starters. I don't mind paying for a good app, either. TIA!

ETA: I know she could use iMessage, but DH and I have Android phones as do half her friends (the others have Touches though).

[truly scrumptious]

I don't know about security, but "WhatsApp" is a very popular texting app that we have used (and a lot of our friends use) which is platform neutral, and free!

[oneplustwo]

Thanks, I know about WhatsApp as well, and it seems better geared towards the high school and beyond set. Same issues of lack of security/privacy controls. WhatsApp itself says users must be 16 and older.

[o_mom]

I'd love to find something, too. I turned off iMessages because there was no way to restrict it. Why they couldn't allow you to restrict it only to contacts or an approved list, I don't get. We have resorted to using e-mail instead. DH and I can both get it on our phones, so it works just as well.

[mom2binsd]

My DD uses kik to text hr friends from our tablet. You need wifi for it. It's free.

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[oneplustwo]

I'd be willing to pay for a texting app that doesn't allow pictures, or that limits who the user can text to and/or receive texts from, but I'm not finding anything available.

What I've read about Kik that gives me pause . . .

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/mobile-app-reviews/kik-messenger

http://www.bewebsmart.com/internet-safety/is-kik-okay-for-kids/

http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/nbc33/news/Police-Issue-Warning-About-Child-Predators-Using-Kik-App-220665461.html

Most of them (the texting apps, that is) seem to have the same concerns.

TextFree originally didn't include picture messenging, but it does now. It seems to be the best of the bunch though?

[lele]

I use google voice for texting. But it is also a phone, but I have never had the option to use that part of it.

[khm]

I use google voice for texting. But it is also a phone, but I have never had the option to use that part of it.

I have tried a couple apps and haven't liked them for one reason or another. I just downloaded Google Voice tonight and so far so good. I don't know why I didn't do it first! It had worse reviews in the iTunes store, but it seems way less hinky than the ones I have tried. (ie, they seem very open to randoms being able to contact users thru the app.)

I have an Android and an iPad, my daughter a iPod Touch signed up for a new number vs. using my existing cell number. The email I used is my primary to my cell.

I get an email copy of every text she gets, and I like that. I'm sure it is something you can turn off, but for now, I like it a lot.

[oneplustwo]

Yes, lele, thanks for the idea. I hadn't thought of Google Voice at all and it hadn't come up as an option while I was searching around. What I've read so far sounds really promising; this may work out for us.