Reply To Viber Messages Directly From iOS Home & Lock Screen

The dust on the iOS 6 jailbreak scene has finally started to settle and after hours of trying to figure out what tweaks are actually compatible with iOS 6, people now appear to have a handle on things. The release of a brand new tweak in the Cydia store is the biggest indicator of business returning to normal. Quick Reply For Viber - as the name implies - is targeted at the free Viber app available in the App Store. The tweak converts ordinary notifications from Viber into interactive quick-reply pop-ups, which can be used to start replying to any message without having to launch the app. There are similar tweaks available for the stock Messages app, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, and it is a testament to Viber’s ever-rising popularity that Quick Reply has been released for it after such big names. Read More

GroupMe v4 For Android Exits Beta; Gets Revamped UI & Tablet Support

GroupMe is a popular cross-platform group messaging app for Android, iOS, web, Windows Phone & Blackberry that needs no long introduction. A few days back, the company behind the app announced an invite-only beta of its updated Android variant (v4) for those interested in trying out its new look and features. If you missed out the news, fret not, because the app is now out of beta and available in the Play Store for everyone. Besides a totally revamped UI, the biggest addition in GroupMe v4 for Android comes in the form of the much-awaited tablet support. You can now invite anyone to existing groups by sharing a public URL, and sending direct messages to select contacts has also been made a lot easier; by just tapping a user’s avatar anywhere within the app, you can start chatting with them in private. Read More

Poke Is An iPhone Chat App From Facebook With Self-Destructing Messages

Whenever one of the big boys of the tech world launch a new app, there are bound to be comparisons with existing services. For that reason, you might think that Facebook Poke getting called a Snapchat rip-off is nothing out of the ordinary. In this case however, the allegations aren't a mere snap response (pun intended); the new Poke app not only has the same basic concept as Snapchat, it even copies its features and interface to a large extent. If you don’t already know, Snapchat is touted as the most efficient real-time picture messenger that has the ability to automatically destroy messages after a fixed period of time. Facebook Poke does all the same things, but it might gain popularity owing to the fact that you don’t have to create a new account and invite all your friends to the app; every Facebook friend of yours who is on iOS gets listed by Poke automatically, and you can start a conversation with a single tap. Read More

imo Instant Messenger App For iPad Adds Support For VoIP Calls

WhatsApp and iMessage are great, but you can’t expect all your friends to use them just for you. That’s why cross-platform and multi-service messengers are always in demand. iOS has several excellent apps available for the purpose like Trillian and IM+, but imo is one awesome cross-platform instant messaging app that gives the competition a run for its money owing to its neat interface, great media sharing capabilities and wide support for several IM services. While imo has allowed users to share audio recordings for quite a while now, it’s not the same as having a thorough telephonic conversation with your friends. If you have been using imo on your iPhone or Android, you must be aware that the app recently got VoIP capabilities that allow free and unlimited imo-to-imo calls. The iPad client, however, was overlooked and didn’t get the update with the rest of imo variants. The iPad app has finally been updated, and not only does it support VoIP, the interface is much neater as well. Read More

Trillian For iOS Updated With iPad Support, New Interface & Notifications

Smartphone apps like WhatsApp and ChatOn might have diminished the importance of desktop messengers, but there are still a lot of people who use applications like MSN Messenger, Yahoo and Trillian. While Trillian was originally just a desktop application, it has been around for iOS for quite a while, and has amassed many fans. The iPhone app has always offered all the basic functionalities usually associated with the Trillian service, but it lacked the extra edge and finesse that makes Trillian such a hit on desktop. Now, however, things have taken a turn for the better and Trillian for iOS has been updated with a new interface, along with a ton of fresh features, and got enough juice to grab our attention for a review. The app sports a Dashboard on its main page, where users can pin the most frequently used contacts. Apart from that, there are new emoticons, the notification system has been enhanced and it is now possible to invite your friends over to Trillian via SMS. To top all that, Trillian has gone universal, meaning that you can now enjoy the app fully on your iPad, as well as the iPhone. Read More

Brosix: Chat & Collaborate For Secure Project Management Across Multiple Platforms

When managing teams and projects, most of the time and energy of capable individuals is spent on coordination and collaboration for better work distribution. Instant Messengers aim to enhance cooperation between team members. Brosix is a powerful, cross-platform Instant Messenger that allows you to chat and share sensitive data with the concerned individuals in a fully protected, private channel. From the individual to large scale organizations, the importance of this application in achieving productivity is commendable. In addition, it supports all popular operating systems, whether on your Smartphone or your system PC. Workers can keep in touch by using features like swift screen and file sharing, online white-board, co-browsing, audio/video chat and conferencing to improve the collective good. Read More

QuickIM For iPhone: Google Talk & Facebook Chat Client With Quick Reply

One of the biggest advantages of smartphones is connectivity on the go. Although you get that with almost any phone (that’s the whole purpose of a mobile phone, anyway), these devices allow internet access without restricting mobility, and that makes the whole idea all the more practical and useful. In today’s world, Google Apps have replaced plenty of enterprise suites for a lot of organizations, and even outside that, many users prefer using Google Chat due to its deep integration with Gmail and lightweight desktop client. Then, Facebook being the most popular social network, its chat service, too, is one of the most convenient methods of staying connected on the go. All the major smartphone platforms – iOS, Android, Windows Phone et al – have a plethora of multi-protocol chat clients that allow connection to various instant messaging services. The problem, however, is that not all solutions are equally effective; some may be resource intensive, others may lack (push) notifications, while still others may have an ugly interface. Furthermore, for iPhone and iPad, even though we have Facebook Messenger, it’s not that efficient, and on the Google chat front, neither is there any official client, nor are the third-party solutions that impressive. Perhaps that’s the reasoning behind the Cydia app, QuickIM. Currently supporting Facebook Chat and Google Talk, this app for jailbroken iPhone, iPod touch and iPad makes it super easy to stay connected with your buddies on these platforms, employing an easy interface, push notifications, and quick reply & compose features. Read More

Samsung’s ChatON Messenger Now Available For Windows Phone 7

ChatON – Samsung’s multi-platform mobile instant messaging app – has finally made it’s way to devices running Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 Mango, adding Microsoft’s smartphone operating system to its list of platforms including Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile. With several players like iMessage, Whatsapp, Kik, GroupMe, Viber and Tango already in the game on WP7 amongst others, does Sammy’s offering come up to par against the competition? Let’s find out after the break. Read More

CallApp: Dialer Replacement, Data Sharing & VoIP Calling Android App With Social Media Integration

Quality dialer replacement apps for Android smartphones are hard to find, but in CallApp, you get far more options than you’d have ever imagined to have at your discretion while making and receiving phone calls. First things first; CallApp vows to be a ‘universal social contact book’ for your Android phone. Social, in a sense that it pulls critical and updated information from various renowned online businesses and social networks – Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Google +, and Google Mail – to show all the latest updates regarding your callers. Be it the last interaction that you made with your contact via email, text messages, or on a social network, your CallApp caller ID screen has you covered. In addition, this Holo-themed app helps users easily take notes whilst attending calls, and lets them share reminders, meetings, contacts, location, photos, apps, URLs  and more with other CallApp users over the web for free. That’s not all; CallApp also supports linking your phone contacts’ social accounts with their phone numbers, and allows customizing caller ID screen for each individual contact number stored on your Android device’s address book. Read More

Official Android Client Of Video Chatting Service Camfrog Released

Back in the ‘good old days’ of dial-up connections, when the concept of modern-day social networks and micro-blogging sites barely existed, instant messaging was considered to be the prime medium of connecting to worldwide internet users. Those were times when the likes of AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, AIM, ICQ and several other similar services that hosted public/private chat rooms ruled the roost. As time progressed, and high speed internet became mainstream, numerous other big players stepped into the foray, providing the facility of video chat. Camfrog is one such service and is renowned for boasting an overwhelming number of registered users courtesy of its high quality audio and video chatting service, easy file sharing , and more importantly, its availability across almost all renowned desktop and mobile platforms. It has been available on Windows, Linux & iOS for quite some time, and now, a beta version of the app has finally been released for Android users as well. Read More

BeMe: Android IM With Audio Emoticon, Video, Photo & File Sharing

Fresh to the Google Play Store, BeMe is an innovative and fun-filled instant messaging Android app with plenty of exciting features. Using BeMe, you can start chatting with other app users from any part of the world, and share texts, photos, videos, audio clips, conventional emoticons, location, contacts, files, or various audio-based emoticons with them over the internet (Wi-Fi/3G/4G). Whether it’s a freshly grabbed photo, video, voice clip, or an existing one from your device’s local storage, the app lets you share all in an instant right from your Android. BeMe is a welcome addition to list of world-famous instant messengers, like WhatsApp, Viber and plenty of others that allow users to share messages and multimedia content with their mates in real-time over the internet. All you need to start indulging with your friends is a valid mobile number and a nickname that the app will use to create a unique BeMe identity for you. Once an account is created, you can start chatting with your friends, and share virtually anything from your Android on the go. The app maintains a detailed log of all your conversations with your friends, as well as the total amount of data shared with contacts via the BeMe chat interface. Read More

ooVoo: Cross Platform Application For Free Text, Voice And Video Chat

ooVoo is a cross platform communication tool that can be used for voice calling, video calling and instant messaging on Windows PC, Mac, Android and iOS based systems. It allows you to connect with anyone at anytime using video calls, video messages, voice chat, phone calls, text etc. If you cant meet with someone in person, don’t worry, ooVoo lets you have video chat with multiple people at a time. Due to the application being cross platform, it doesn’t matter if you or your friends are using Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone or any Android based tablet or phone. More on ooVoo after the break. Read More

Yoono: Manage Your Social Networking & Instant Messaging Activities

In the last few years, social networking and instant messaging has become a major part of our online lives. Internet giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and LinkedIn help us manage our every need related to entertainment, work, setting up meetings, sharing pictures and communication (networking, to summarize it all). They provide everyone with tons of new material to watch and share everyday. Yoono is an application for Windows that lets you view and manage all your social networks and instant messaging services from a centralized interface. It enables you to view updates from multiple services, update your status and share stuff with your friends. So, instead of switching from tab to tab for checking out the latest entries in your feeds of different social networks, you can do that from a unified interface with Yoono. Keep reading to find out more about Yoono. Read More

OctroTalk: 2-In-1 IM Client For Gtalk & Jabber Available For Android

OctroTalk is a handy cross-platform IM client for mobile/smartphone devices that connects you to your Google Talk (Gtalk) and Jabber buddies. Using OctroTalk, not only can you start chatting with your friends via text, but can also start free voice calls with the online ones. That’s not all; the client also lets you make free calls to any phone number of your choice using a preferred SIP. Although OctroTalk supports two of the most widely used IM services, it does not allow logging in with multiple accounts at once. Read More

Palringo: Multi Platform IM App For Android, iOS, Symbian, Windows Mobile & Java

When we talk about an Instant Messaging app for mobile devices, two of the first few apps that come to our mind are WhatsApp and eBuddy Messenger - two of the most popular IM apps out there, with highly distinctive features. WhatsApp is supported on multiple mobile platforms and allows you to send recorded audio to the recipient, on the go. Limitation? Communicates app to app alone. This is where eBuddy steps in with its multiple IM client support across multiple platforms. No audio support though, even if you do buy the Pro version. Did we mention that WhatsApp, while being free on Android, is a paid app on iOS. Honestly, eBuddy has nothing special to offer either unless you buy the pro version. Enter Palringo! A multi-platform messenger with support for multiple IM clients and a premium as well as free version, where the free variant does not disappoint. Even better, the app does allow you to send recorded audio along with the usual images to any recipient over any IM client. One of the key features of this app is the location-based group chat. You can create a group, or you can join those detected near your location, or if you choose to, any group outside your location parameters as well. Read More

B-Messenger For Android: IM With Voice/ Video Calls, Public Chat Rooms & More

It's not that Android users are in dire need of some nice-looking instant messenger for their devices, but there is certainly a huge void in that respect, especially when talking of a truly diverse solution. B-Messenger is a free cross-platform IM for Android and iOS that supports audio and video calling with other users over WiFi/3G. The app supports toggling audio/video sharing options whilst a call is in progress. Using B-Messenger, you can find other online users from all across the globe, make friends with them and/or join various topic-based chat rooms to share your thoughts. You can also create your own personal rooms with titles of your own. Read More

PingMe IM For Android, iOS & WP7 – Live Chat, Image & Location Sharing

PingMe is a new cross-platform instant messenger app for smartphones (iOS, Android & Windows Phone 7) that lets you connect with your friends, send quick messages, share images, add emoticons to messages, instantly create dynamic chat groups and locate your friends on a map via location-enabled messages. PingMe is free, its instant and it lets you ‘Ping’ with your friends using your mobile number. Connect with PingMe users all across the globe and start sharing messages with them in virtually no time at all. PingMe also sports push notifications for your messages so that you’re never too far away from your buddies. Although quite similar to WhatsApp in the way it works, PingMe brings a few new features to the table that might make you want to set it as your default IM client. Read More

Trillian 5 Is Now Free, Includes All Features Of Pro Version

Cerulen Studios, the dev team behind famous multi-protocol IM app, Trillian; which implemented the technique of message syncing across all the configured devices, has released Trillian 5 which is absolutely free but with unobtrusive advertisements. For those who haven't tried Trillian before, it’s one of the best cross-platform IM available out there for mobile as well as OS platforms - Windows and Mac. The previously featured standard version didn’t have those awesome features which were available in Pro, but now Cerulen Studios has decided to diminish the gap between both versions by offering all the features of Pro, for free. Read More