I believe Google Voice can do text directly from the app, no cell service required (just an internet connection). And my phone service has been able to do LTE over WIFI for a number of years.

Yes, in college I carried a cheap pay-per-minute flip-phone plus an iPod touch. Most of the time I had wifi and could text for free from the iPod using Google Voice. In the rare cases when I was not in a place with wifi, I could just use the phone. It was a nice setup :)

Ah my phone doesn't have apps, that makes sense though.

Not to sound snarky but which phone do you carry that doesn't have apps in 2022 but does have WiFi?

its just a dumb-phone you get at the grocery store. it makes calls and does texts, but in some cases you pay per text.

edit: am i getting downvoted for not having a smart phone or for asking a dumb question? i cant tell what i've done wrong here, I'm just not a phone person.