Beginner guide: set up ClearSMS
By the end of this page ClearSMS will be your messaging app, your texts will be sorted into tabs, you will have chosen what happens to promotions, and you will have sent a message.
Before you start
- ClearSMS installed. See Install.
- A SIM card in the phone.
- Ten minutes.
Allow the permissions
Open ClearSMS. Android asks for several permissions one after another.
Allow each one:
- SMS: to read, send and receive your texts.
- Contacts: to show names instead of numbers, and to keep messages from saved contacts in Personal.
- Notifications (Android 13 and later): to tell you about new messages.
ClearSMS works without the contacts permission, but you then see numbers instead of names, and messages from your contacts are not protected from being sorted, and cleaned up, as promotions.
Decide about promotions first
Auto-delete old promotions is on to start with. Once ClearSMS is your default SMS app, it deletes promotional texts older than two weeks, including ones that were already on your phone. Choose now, before you make it the default.
Tap the gear icon at the top right to open Settings.
Under PROMOTIONS, either turn off Auto-delete old promotions to keep everything, or choose how long to keep them under Keep promotions for: 1 wk, 2 wks, 1 mo or 3 mo.
Press Back.
Promotions and auto-delete explains exactly what is and is not deleted.
Make ClearSMS your default SMS app
Android lets only one app receive texts and delete them: the default SMS app. Until ClearSMS is the default, it can show your existing messages but does not receive new ones.
On the home screen, a banner reads Make ClearSMS your default messaging app to receive and send texts. Tap Set.
Android asks which app to use for SMS. Choose ClearSMS and confirm.
The banner disappears. In Settings, Default SMS app now says ClearSMS is your default messaging app.
RCS chats pause
While ClearSMS is the default, RCS chats (the "chat features" in Google Messages) stop and people's messages reach you as plain SMS. Default SMS app and RCS explains how to switch back when you need RCS.
Find your way around
The home screen is titled Messages. From top to bottom:
- The gear icon opens Settings.
- Search conversations filters the list as you type.
- The category chips switch between Focused, Personal, Transactions, OTP, Promos and All. Each shows how many unread messages it holds.
- The conversation list. Tap a conversation to open it; press and hold to delete it.
- Compose at the bottom right starts a new message.
Pull the list down to refresh it.
Send your first message
Tap Compose.
In Name or phone number, type the phone number you want to text.
Type your message in Text message and tap the send button.
The conversation opens, and your message appears as a chat bubble.
What you learned
- Why ClearSMS needs SMS, contacts and notification permissions.
- How to control promotion clean-up before it starts.
- How to make ClearSMS the default SMS app, and what that means for RCS.
- How the category tabs work.