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Top 5 free BlackBerry Messenger-style cross-platform chat apps
Up until recently, BBM was about the only application to provide this kind of phone-to-phone messaging service over data, but with the dawn of the App Stores, a whole host of BBM-clones have sprung up. Today we're going to be taking a look at five of the best free and, for the most part, cross-platform solutions. It's important to note that none of these apps will connect you with the BBM service, nor are they capable of connecting to any other messaging service than their own.
PingChat!
First up is one of the better known and, until Apple decided to launch an ill-fated music social network, better named apps: PingChat! (their emphasis not mine). Ping allows you to connect to friends using a Ping! ID, something akin to a BBM pin, but easier to remember because you can pick it yourself. Once you've shared your ID, or found friends via email, Facebook or Twitter, you can send text messages, photos, videos, voice memos, contacts and map locations -- pretty much anything you might want to send to a friend can be sent using Ping.Messages are sent in real-time over the data network and pushed to the recipient. This means that if you happen to have a poor connection, sending messages can take a little while. That's going to be the same for all these BBM-clone apps, but it's important to realize that Ping, like the others, will require a data network, and can't send messages over the voice network like an SMS. Once the message is away, you'll see a little S and a tick indicating the message has been sent. That turns to a tick with an R, when the recipient reads the message -- a nice feature if the message you're sending needs an urgent reply. PingChat! also packs group messaging and 'Social Profiles,' which allow you to display a photo, status message and some information about yourself to confirmed contacts -- frankly it's something I'll never use myself and thankfully you don't have to.
PingChat! is available on iOS, Android and BlackBerry, and is ad-supported.
Kik Messenger
Kik Messenger experienced a quick rise in popularity, mainly due to its incredibly annoying contact farming, which culminated in its removal from the BlackBerry App World by RIM. That could be enough to put you off this pretty slick and fast BBM clone; but, there's quite a lot to like about Kik, and now that they've toned down the contact farming, it could be a good choice.Kik takes things back to basics -- it's purely a text messenger. Sure you can send emoticons, but that's about it. For the purpose of a SMS replacement, Kik works brilliantly. It's fast, has send, delivered and read receipts, shows you when the other person is typing and is available for iOS, Android and, in the near future, for Windows Phone 7. It's a shame it was pulled from the BlackBerry App World, but hopefully we'll see it reappear once things have been resolved between Kik and RIM.
While it's lacking a few features that I would like in an instant messenger on my smartphone, like location and photo sharing, Kik casts aside the frills for a fast, slick and simple, text messaging experience.
ChatPlus
While ChatPlus is one of the less well-known entries into this top five, the app wields features that none of the others do. These include the ability to translate text via a Google translate robot, which is surprisingly useful, the ability to write free hand notes, and send location data. ChatPlus has decent customization options too. You can change the chat window appearance, choose whether to preview a new message using an iOS push notification, as well as create contact groups for easier management.The biggest downside to ChatPlus is that it's currently limited to iOS. But if you happen to only ever want to talk to people with iPhones, then ChatPlus has a lot going for it. It's free and supported by iAds, which are as annoying as any other ad, but free's free right?
LiveProfile
LiveProfile, as the name might suggest, markets itself as more than a simple messenger. More than a messenger in this case means status updates, a profile with photo plus Twitter and Facebook integration. Frankly, the social aspects are done better elsewhere, and who really needs another social network. Thankfully the phone-to-phone messaging features of LiveProfile are pretty solid. You can send text messages, photos and videos, all while getting sent, delivered and read confirmations. LiveProfile will also tell you when your contact is typing, which is useful if you happen to be about to switch apps mid-conversation. Messages are pushed to your contacts just like all the other options here, and the app is available on iOS and Android with a BlackBerry app on its way, so most bases are covered.
Beluga Messenger
Unlike most of the other phone-to-phone messenger apps featured here, Beluga Messenger's main focus is group messaging. By creating 'Pods' of specified contacts, you can message said group all in one go. People can then reply to that Pod and message everyone in the group simultaneously. Each Pod is private too, which means you can have any number of Pods with any configuration of your contact list, keeping each Pod separate from the next. It's much simpler in practice than it sounds, but you can have as many pods as you like, and share with them your location, text messages, and photos.Beluga has native apps available for both iOS and Android, but it also has a Web app for both desktop and mobile browsers, making it truly cross-platform. It's incredibly useful to be able to send out messages to a group of friends from the desktop, and then carry on the group conversation on your phone, regardless of what smartphone operating system it happens to be running. Certainly makes arranging parties and private group meet-ups easy, and removes the need for Facebook, at least for me. One to check out then, if you're into group chats.
And finally
That's your lot for now, but frankly put, any one of these messenger apps will probably serve you well. The problem with any of these BBM-clones is that they're only useful when all your friends use the same app. There are also paid-apps that provide a similar service, like the 99c WhatsApp Messenger, but I've found it difficult enough to persuade people to use a free app, let alone one they have to pay for.If you have a favorite free phone-to-phone messenger app that I haven't covered here, drop it down in the comments and let your fellow DLS readers know why they should be using it.
Comments
11
Subscribe to commentsMxxConFeb 14th 2011 12:30PM
Personally, i don't see a point in these "phone dedicated" IM clients.
I'd much rather run something like ICQ or GChat or AIM or any other existing protocol. That way i can continue communication with my contacts regardless if they are using their computer or a phone.
Samuel GibbsFeb 14th 2011 12:36PM
@MxxCon I know what you mean, but I've had issues in the past and eventually given up, because of sign in conflicts. I sign in on an app like Beejive and it complains bitterly that there's two instances of my account signed in. Then when I want to go to the desktop, but forget that my phone is signed in I get a barrage of pings to my phone.
The other problem I've found is in the way people use IM on a desktop. They often fire off two or three small messages, which end up constantly making your phone ping. If they sent the message as one IM, it would be fine, but they don't (at least the people I talk to don't). When I look at my own use of IM on the desktop I'm as guilty of doing the same as anyone I speak to.
They both have their uses I grant you that, but as a replacement or enhancement of SMS/MMS, these chat apps work really well.
AndyFeb 14th 2011 2:26PM
whatsapp
AndyFeb 14th 2011 2:30PM
never mind...whatsapp isn't free for iOS/blackberry...its only free on android cause its still in beta
priteshFeb 14th 2011 4:03PM
Whatsapp is also free on Symbian (for those who still use it) - however it drains the battery heavily and can't/won't be turned off/killed as it can be in iOS (and BB?). WhatsApp is surtprisingly popular for a paid for app though - a LOT of people I know use it to keep in touch globally...very handy
f055Feb 15th 2011 7:09AM
You really should include TextOne here: http://text-one.com
It's free, it's straightforward and it even has a companion app for Facebook. Plus, no reg required, just start the app and text.
Tera KristenFeb 15th 2011 12:41PM
Hey - Tera from Kik here - thanks for the Kik Messenger inclusion!
One question for you Samuel - what exactly does contact farming mean? I heard that phrase tossed around a couple of times when we released Kik Messenger 2.0 but I think that it's a little misleading in terms of what we actually do. In the beginning we automatically scanned your address books, looked at the email addresses (never saved them) - and matched you with friend's who were *already* using Kik.
Based on feedback - we decided to make this feature optional - you can decide whether you want to be found by your friend's and whether you want the "you may know" suggestion messages. With the new version of Kik (ready any day now!) you are able to turn this feature on and off at will. What do you think of this change?
Anyway, good article on the future of phone communication!
Samuel GibbsFeb 15th 2011 3:22PM
@Tera Kristen contact farming is exactly that. Looking through a users address book without explicit warning or requesting permission. Whether you as a company saw that as a helpful feature or not, to match those stored addresses with people already using Kik as you state, you have to transmit them back to base. That's all the contact information stored in every user's address book. Whether you save them or not is irrelevant, you haven't explicitly asked whether you can do that and you've put the privacy of all the people who happen to have their details in said person's address book at risk. As an end user we have no idea whether you actually save them permanently or not, you must store them for at least a period of time to be able to actually match them, or whether they're encrypted when transmitted back to base and stored.
While privacy of information is taking a beating at the moment from the constant striving for 'openness' certain social networks have created, I still feel it's an important issue. It was a sneaky thing to do in my opinion, whether you as a company see it like that or not, and I hope it's something Kik Interactive doesn't try again.
teraFeb 15th 2011 3:42PM
@Samuel Gibbs Do you feel then that the problem was remedied when we implemented the ability to opt-out of the contacts scan? Is it made better by allowing people to opt-in and out at will?
I do not feel like sneaky is the right word here. It didn't take an extraordinary amount of sleuthing to know what we were doing (we were quite up front about it). But, I do feel that openness of information *must* work both ways and we try to set the bar quite high with how prompt and honest we are (especially with our community). The real heart breaker (at least for me) is how difficult it can be to convey genuineness through the Internet.
I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this - and I can assure you it will not happen again!
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