What is the difference between Message and Text in the RingCentral Mobile App?

Does one have an advantage over the other?  You can go to Messages and start a new message; or go to Phone > New Text to do a text message.  Also when doing a Conference Call using your "bridge," you can choose between Message or Text (in addition to email) to send the invite.  Is there a real difference between the two?  And if not, why are there two separate options?

Christine,

As I have understood and explained the difference is that Message is for internal chats only between mutual users (coworkers, teams, etc.) with a RingCentral account, while Text provides for SMS text messages made to and from the RingCentral apps with anyone on the planet who has mobile phone that can send and receive texts.  Sort of the difference between sending a friend a message through Facebook versus sending them a text to their mobile phone number.

Hope this make sense.

We are prepping for everyone to upgrade to the RingCentral app since RCPhone is being discontinued at the end of the month.  



In the new RingCentral app, you have a Message tab where you can create a text message from (New Message), or you can click the Phone tab and then select New Text.





I have tested both, and they appear to do the same thing.  As a test, I sent a message to my husband using both Message and Text.  He received both, and was able to reply back to me (I received both replies in the RingCentral app).  My husband does not have the app or work for the same company as me.  So neither option is limited to just other RingCentral users.  

I work in Help Desk and create all the training documentation.  So I'd like to have a good answer when I get asked the question on which one to use, or what is the difference.  

Thanks.

Here's just a quick diagram I put together in trying to figure out the difference.  :)

"Text" is a type of message.  RC saves and manages 4 types of messages: voice-message (mp3 + transcription), fax-message (pdf), text-sms (text), text-mms (text+files)

Hope this is what you were looking for

Are you referring to the "RC Classic Phone App" or the newer "RC App"  (used to be Glip)?  If you are using the newer app (that they are pushing, but does not work well yet)  than there is a 5th type of message, which is user-to-user messaging only used by between RC users.  Also, "Message" in this app ONLY displays these user-to-user messages, all other 4 types of messages are viewed in the "Phone" section of the app.

If you are using the classic PHONE APP, then both ways work and just different views/links to the same thing.  In this app the "Message" app is a single list of all the 4 main message types so that you can see all messages at once (this view is not avail in the new APP, which is one of many reasons the new APP is not being accepted well yet).

Your reference of "...go to Phone > New Text.."  is not an exact option in either app, so I'm not sure which you are using.  Clarify which app, and I can focus the answer better.

Technically that is correct Randall (and more clearly stated than I did!), but to answer Christine's question, we need to know which mobile app they are using.  The "Messages" section in the classic vs the new app are displaying totally different types of messages.

Christine are you using the iPhone app?   Why I ask is the we have the latest version of the new App on some our Android phones for testing, and the top bar does not look like your screen shots. 

Also, we cannot send a message using the "Message" section to anyone that does not have a RC account.   If we try, it asks us if we want to invite them to RingCentral - if we respond no (cancel), then we cannot send a message.   

In the Android app we also cannot send a new text from the Phone section unless we are repying to an existing message, the only options to send a new "text" message is to use lookup the contact and select text message beside their number.

Your app screens are much better than ours!!  You may want to confirm this and may have to provide separate instructions for Android vs Apple?