Clear SMS

Clear SMS

Privacy-first SMS app with smart inbox, finance dashboard and bill reminders

Prakash Finance Manager Phone & SMS

Download (21 MB)

Screenshots

Screenshot of Clear SMS Screenshot of Clear SMS Screenshot of Clear SMS Screenshot of Clear SMS Screenshot of Clear SMS Screenshot of Clear SMS Screenshot of Clear SMS Screenshot of Clear SMS

Description

Clear SMS is an open-source, privacy-first SMS app that automatically organizes your inbox - completely offline, on your device. Smart inbox

  • Messages are automatically sorted into Important, Promotional, Personal, OTP and Unknown using a transparent, regex-based rules engine - no ML black box, every rule is human-readable JSON you can inspect and edit.
  • 390+ community-maintained rules plus a 715k sender-ID directory.
  • Full-text search with category and time filters, heuristic scam-awareness flagging.
Finance dashboard
  • Debit/credit transactions are extracted from bank SMS into accounts, credit cards and spend summaries with hand-rolled charts.
  • Balance tracking with an optional biometric balance lock.
Bills and alerts
  • Upcoming bills, autopay, insurance and credit-card due dates in one Alerts view.
  • Train and flight journeys, package deliveries with courier and tracking id.
Messaging
  • Full SMS send and receive (default-SMS-app role), MMS send and receive with on-device image compression.
  • Dual-SIM support, message scheduling, drafts, delivery reports, pinned conversations.
  • Recycle bin with 30-day retention, undo for delete and archive, blocked senders and keywords.
OTP handling
  • Big, copyable OTP notifications, optional auto-copy and configurable auto-delete.
Private by design
  • No INTERNET permission - no servers, no telemetry, no analytics, no trackers.
  • No Firebase, no Play Services - pure AOSP compatible.
  • Local backup and restore for messages and settings; your data never leaves your device.
  • The only network activity is the Android system's own MMS transaction with your carrier - inherent to how MMS works.
Material You - dynamic color on Android 12+, light/dark/system themes. Categorization rules are maintained by the community and bundled into every release. Contribute rules or report gaps at the project repository.

What’s new (0.16.1)

Changing a message's category now takes effect immediately.

- Picking "Change category" on a message added the rule but left the message where it was until you re-sorted the whole inbox by hand. A rule tied to a sender - which is what that option creates - is now applied to that sender's existing messages straight away. Closes #1
- Rules that match on the message text instead of a sender could apply to anything, so they are not applied unbidden: the app says so, and offers to take you to Setti

Versions

Version Date Size Requires Android Download
0.16.1 current
2478e715474e0a55…
 2026-09-05 21 MB API 23
0.15.0
6b03ab2f2d88022b…
 2026-09-01 21 MB API 23

Permissions

What the app asks the system for. Android only grants sensitive access after you confirm it.

  • Read SMSRead text messages.
  • WRITE_SMS
  • Receive SMSProcess incoming text messages.
  • RECEIVE_MMS
  • Send SMSSend text messages (may cost money).
  • Read contactsAccess the address book.
  • Phone stateDetect ongoing calls and read device information.
  • NotificationsShow notifications.
Show 9 more permissions
  • Run at startupStart automatically after the device is switched on.
  • VibrationControl the vibration alert.
  • Foreground serviceKeep running in the background, visible in the status bar.
  • Exact alarmsTrigger actions at a precise time.
  • BiometricsUnlock with fingerprint or face.
  • FingerprintUnlock with a fingerprint.
  • Prevent sleepingKeep the device from going to sleep.
  • Network stateCheck whether and how the device is connected.
  • clearsms.DYNAMIC_RECEIVER_NOT_EXPORTED_PERMISSION

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