Do those allow normal texting to people with normal texting apps? I need something that talks to normies.
Discussion
Nope, normies only speak NPC languange 😅
The app needs to be specific, there are non google ones. I think there is also IM apps that can work with them, I forget which. Probably Whatsapp, maybe Facebook messenger.
I don't like any of those any more than Google.
I think there is actual sms apps
Deku SMS (Deku is an SMS app that supports end to end encryption and photo sharing)
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.afkanerd.deku/
This one I just found on fdroid
QKSms for SMS. Sadly I am unaware of any app that does both fallback to SMS and normal IM/chat