Six IM applications for Iphone and Ipod Touch

Iphone’s built-in software lacks a IM client (Instant messaging client).However there are six IM clients for iphone and all are waiting for Apple to add a push notification service to enable iphone users receive messages, even when they’re not open on-screen.

Iphone IM apps(Instant messaging applications):

The following are the six IM applications( Instant messaging clients) for Apple’s iphone and Ipod Touch.

AIM for iphone:

AIM is the official AOL IM (Instant Messaging) application for Iphone and Ipod Touch and is free.AIM has a buddy list, favorites, info, and active IM (Instant messages) views.Buddy list shows avatars for users, if any.Buddy list can be categorized into online, offline, general and recent buddies.Buddies can even be favourited by adding them to favourites.Every individual chat session appears in a seperate window and iphone users can navigate between active sessions by swiping back and forth. 
 

However The iphone chatter cannot share images and audio/video snippets.Moreover buddies chatting from desktop based IM clients cannot send images to the iphone chatter. Moreover URLs don’t appear as links in Iphone AIM client.

Palringo for iphone:

Palringo from Palringo Limited, is a free multi-service IM applications for the iPhone and iPod touch.It supports Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo!, AIM, Gadu-Gadu, ICQ, Jabber, and Google Talk messaging.Links are clickable and images can also be sent correctly.Palringo also has the ability to send audio recordings.Palringo seemed to be much better than most IM applications for Iphone.

WebMessenger for iphone:

WebMessenger from CallWave, is yet another free multi-platform IM application for the iPhone and iPod touch. WebMessenger supports Jabber, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo messaging.However links are not clickable and the sig up process is complicated, and requires a telephone number.This instant messaging is also not as user friendly as other IM applications for Iphone.

BeejiveIM for iphone:

BeejiveIM is an IM application that is compatible with Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN/Windows Live, AIM, ICQ, Jabber, and MySpace.This iphone IM app also supports buddy lists, favourites, active chats and more.Iphone user can set online/offline status for each service independently, via the accounts page.Chat session mimics iPhone’s SMS app with messages displayed in talk bubbles of varied colors.Most importantly BeejiveIM has the ability to send message notifications to the user via push email (MobileMe or Exchange). 
 

However URLs are not clickable via BeejiveIM and images and audio/video snippets cannot be shared as in AIM and WebMessenger. BeejiveIM is also priced on the higher side at $16, in sharp contrast to the other free IM clients for Iphone.

IM+ All-In-One Messenger for iphone:

IM+ All-In-One Messenger from Shape services is another free IM app for Iphone and supports Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN/Windows Live, AIM, ICQ, Jabber, and MySpace messaging.IM+ All-In-One Messenger does not require the iphone user to sign-up with any service, and thereby you need not have to share IM login information unlike other Iphone IM clients. 
 

However as in most other IM applications for Iphone, links are not clickable and images and audio/video snippets cannot be shared.

MobileChat for iphone:

MobileChat from twenty08 is priced at $3 but has a lot of bugs. Though it is supposed to be compatible with Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, MSN/Windows Live, AIM, ICQ, Jabber, and MySpace, iphone users find it very buggy.  
 

Enjoy chatting with your friends and family using your Apple iphone and any one of the six Instant messaging(IM) clients listed above.

Filed under: Iphone and Ipod Tips