How to Send SMS from PC in 2026 — DesktopSMS, Phone Link, and Cloud Options Compared

The Options at a Glance

If you want to send SMS from PC, your choices fall into three categories:

• A local desktop app that connects your Windows PC directly to your Android phone over your own network or cable — no cloud involved
• A built-in operating system feature — Microsoft’s Phone Link is pre-installed on Windows 11 and offers basic messaging through a Microsoft account
• A cloud-based service that syncs your messages through an external server and lets you text from a web browser

DesktopSMS fits the first category. Phone Link is the second. mysms and MightyText represent the third. Below is how they compare.

DesktopSMS — Send SMS from PC Without Cloud or Internet

DesktopSMS is a native Windows application that sends and receives SMS through your Android phone over a direct local connection. There is no cloud account, no registration, and no internet requirement for the PC-to-phone link. Your messages travel from your PC to your phone over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB cable, or wired LAN, and from there via your carrier as a standard SMS. Nothing passes through a third-party server.

Connection Options

DesktopSMS supports four connection types, more than any comparable tool:

• Wi-Fi — both devices on the same network, automatic discovery
• Bluetooth — point-to-point, works without a shared network
• USB (adb) — fastest and most reliable, also charges your phone
• Wired LAN — via USB-C Ethernet adapter for stable cable connections

Because the connection is local, you can send SMS from PC even when neither device has internet access — useful in offices with restricted networks, during travel, or as a backup when the internet is down.

Messaging Features

• ✔ Send and receive standard SMS from your PC with full conversation history
• ✔ Bulk messaging — send to multiple recipients at once from a single dialog. Paste a list of numbers or select contacts from your phonebook
• ✔ Schedule SMS — compose messages now and set a specific date and time for delivery. Scheduled messages are queued on your phone and send even when your PC is off
• ✔ Message queue (Professional license) — enqueued messages continue processing in the background on your phone, surviving app restarts and device reboots
• ✔ Throttling controls — configurable delays between sends to reduce the risk of carrier filtering during bulk messaging
• ✔ Dual SIM support — choose which SIM to use per message
• ✔ Read-only MMS and RCS access — view multimedia messages and RCS threads received on your phone

Pricing

DesktopSMS is free to download and use with no time limit. The free tier includes all features with reasonable limits (80 characters per message, 10 recipients per message, 10-message queue) — plenty for evaluation and light use.

• Personal license — $11.99 one-time. Removes message length and recipient limits. Lifetime license, covers all future versions.
• Professional license — $16.99 one-time (limited offer, regularly $21.99). Removes all limits including the message queue cap. Built for bulk messaging and business use.

Both paid licenses are perpetual, one-time purchases. No subscription, no renewal, no recurring fees. See the Pricing page for details.

Privacy

Because DesktopSMS uses direct local connections, no messages, contacts, or usage data ever leave your devices. There is no account to create, no email to register, and no cloud sync. The only outbound internet request is an optional version check when the desktop client starts.

For a full step-by-step setup guide, see How to Send SMS from PC Using Your Android Phone. For detailed connection type walkthroughs, see DesktopSMS connection types and their requirements.

Phone Link — Built into Windows, Heavily Skewed Toward Samsung

Microsoft’s Phone Link comes pre-installed on Windows 10 and 11 and lets you read and reply to SMS, view photos, make calls, and mirror apps from your Android phone to your PC. It is free and works without installing extra desktop software.

What Works Well

• ✔ Deep OS integration — works at the system level, no third-party app needed on PC
• ✔ Notification mirroring — Phone Link shows app notifications from your phone on your desktop (DesktopSMS does not do this)
• ✔ Call management — make and receive calls from your PC
• ✔ RCS support on select Samsung devices with Samsung Messages as default

Where It Falls Short

• ✘ Wi-Fi only — Phone Link requires both devices on the same Wi-Fi network. No Bluetooth or USB cable support for messaging. No offline mode.
• ✘ Microsoft account required — you need to sign in with a Microsoft account. Devices are linked through Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.
• ✘ Samsung-first — full feature set (app mirroring, RCS, recent apps) is limited to Samsung devices with One UI. Other Android phones get a restricted subset: basic SMS, calls, photos, and notifications.
• ✘ No bulk messaging or scheduling — Phone Link is designed for individual texting. You cannot send to multiple recipients at once, schedule messages for later, or manage a message queue.
• ✘ RCS limited to Samsung Messages — RCS features only work if Samsung Messages is set as your default SMS app, not Google Messages which most Android phones use.

Phone Link is a reasonable choice if you own a recent Samsung phone, always have Wi-Fi available, and only need basic one-to-one texting. For anyone else — especially users of Pixel, OnePlus, Xiaomi, Motorola, or other Android brands — the feature set is noticeably reduced compared to a dedicated tool like DesktopSMS.

Cloud-Based Alternatives — mysms and MightyText

mysms and MightyText take a different approach: they sync your SMS through their own cloud servers, allowing you to text from a web browser on any operating system. Both require an account and an active internet connection.

mysms

• $9.99/year for Premium (backup, schedule, archive)
• Cloud sync through mysms servers — messages pass through a third party
• Native Windows app available, plus browser access
• Android app last updated in 2022 — development appears to have stalled

MightyText

• $7.49/month for Pro (~$90/year) or free with limits
• Browser-based (Chrome extension) plus Windows and tablet apps
• Notification mirroring, photo sync, scheduling
• 10M+ downloads but revenue has been declining

Both services work if you want a web-based solution and do not mind your messages passing through a cloud server. The main downsides are the recurring subscription cost (which adds up over time compared to DesktopSMS’s one-time license) and the dependency on internet connectivity.

Feature Comparison

Which One Should You Use?

The right choice depends on your priorities:

• Choose DesktopSMS if you want to send SMS from PC without a cloud account, need offline capability, use any Android phone (not just Samsung), require bulk messaging or scheduling, and prefer a one-time payment over a subscription. DesktopSMS also gives you the widest range of connection options — including USB and Bluetooth — which no other tool matches.
• Choose Phone Link if you own a recent Samsung phone, always have Wi-Fi, only send individual messages, and do not mind linking a Microsoft account. Phone Link’s notification mirroring is a genuine advantage that DesktopSMS does not currently offer.
• Choose a cloud service if you want a browser-based solution, need message backup in the cloud, and are comfortable with a recurring subscription. Be aware that mysms appears to be no longer actively maintained.

Get Started

DesktopSMS is free to download and works with any Android phone and Windows PC. No account, no sign-up, no subscription.

Download DesktopSMS Client for Windows and install DesktopSMS Lite from Google Play on your Android phone. You will be texting from your PC within minutes.