While much of the ICT4D literature is at odds with the use of text in user interfaces for illiterate users we see a great potential to connect illiterate users through text messaging - a cheap, asynchronous and convenient communication channel. Touch screen smart phones offer a new opportunity for illiterate people to interact with textual content in connections with text-to-speech solutions. To that effect, we present the design evolution and evaluation of EasyTexting an application that enables illiterate users to use this medium via text-to-speech for reading out words and by making composition possible through icons and reuse of previous words. The application sends and receives plain SMS and there is no requirement for a second party to utilize the application.