Barta: SMS for Senior Citizens

About Barta: SMS for Senior Citizens

Barta is a simple SMS app for senior citizens, elderly parents, and anyone who finds a phone hard work.

Large text. Plain words. Nothing to sign up for.

It was built for a 52-year-old mother in Kakdwip who kept missing her one-time codes in a wall of text she could not read. Everything in it comes from
watching someone struggle with an ordinary messaging app.


SEE WHO REALLY WROTE TO YOU

Indian companies do not send SMS from a name. They send from a code -
JX-BPCLIN-S, VM-HDFCBK, AD-SBIINB. Nobody can read those. A fraud message hides easily among them, because they all look the same.

Barta recognises nearly 5,000 of these sender codes and shows the real company name and the real logo instead - your bank, your gas supplier, your phone company, the railway, the delivery. More than 250 companies: SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Airtel, Jio, IRCTC, Bharatgas, Indane, IndianOil, LIC, Flipkart and many more.

One glance and you know who wrote to you.

The logos are stored inside the app itself. This works with the internet
switched off, and nothing about your messages is ever sent away to be
identified.


YOUR OTP, FOUND FOR YOU

When a one-time code arrives, Barta pulls the OTP out and shows it in large
type with a button to copy it. No hunting through the message. No squinting.
No asking your son to read it out.


LARGE TEXT, BUILT FOR OLDER EYES

Nothing on any screen is smaller than 18 point. High contrast throughout. Big buttons, easy to hit first time. Four text sizes - set the font size once with
your son or daughter, and never touch it again. If small text on a phone is
hard to read, this app was made for you.


WARNS YOU ABOUT FRAUD

Messages that ask for a code, a payment, or your account details are marked with a plain warning in your own language. Knowing the real sender helps here too: a message that claims to be your bank but does not carry your bank's name is worth a second look. A warning is not a verdict - but it is a reason to stop and think before you reply. Never share a one-time code with anyone.


SORTED INTO PLACES THAT MAKE SENSE

Bank. Gas. Phone. Bills. People. Each with its own colour, so the same thing is always in the same place. Pin the ones you check most.


BENGALI OR ENGLISH

Every word, including the buttons on notifications. More languages are coming.


YOUR MESSAGES STAY ON YOUR PHONE

There is no Barta account, no Barta server, and no company receiving your
messages. They are read on your phone and shown to you. They are never
uploaded, copied or sent anywhere.

There is no analytics, no tracking, and no crash reporting of any kind.

The app shows one banner advertisement on the message list, supplied by Google AdMob. It never appears on the one-time-code screen or inside a conversation, and it cannot read your messages.


WHO BARTA IS FOR

- Senior citizens who find the default messaging app too small to read
- Elderly parents and grandparents being set up with a new phone
- Anyone with weak eyesight who wants big, clear text messages
- People who keep missing an OTP buried inside a long message
- Anyone tired of guessing whether AD-SBIINB is really their bank
- Bengali speakers who want their phone in their own language


WHAT BARTA NEEDS, AND WHY

- SMS: to show your messages, tell you when one arrives, and send the ones you write. This is the app's only purpose.
- Contacts (optional): to show a friend's name instead of a phone number. Say no and Barta still works - it shows the number.
- Phone state: to know which SIM a message came in on, on a dual-SIM phone.
- Fingerprint (optional): only if you turn on the app lock.

Privacy policy: https://barta-landing.vercel.app/privacy


Barta is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any company whose name or logo it shows. Those are used only to tell you who sent you a message.