Discord

A year later, we rarely text, instead using the channels in our private Discord server to keep our life together organized—whether hunting for a house, sending ...

I use the search tool when I’m trying to find something that could fall into more than one channel or happened a little while ago, and I would rather search than scroll. But since I have the same Discord features on both devices—as would the lone Android friend in an iPhone group—I can easily share links or info (or just memes) regardless of what gadget I’m using. From there, you can invite others to join and create as many channels as you like—each one a messaging space with its own name and topic, which in my experience quickly replace long-running, disorganized group texts or WhatsApp chats. The search function has no filters, and it can take ages to find anything. Once you download the Discord app to your phone or computer (or open it in a web browser), you need to set up an account and create an invite-only space called a server. After my husband and I started messaging on Discord to coordinate our wedding plans last summer, it slowly became our central hub for organizing and messaging about everything in our lives.