Instant messaging from your iPhone or iPod touch can be a great way to stay in touch with friends and family while on the move. Many of the App Store’s instant messaging apps allow you to log in to multiple accounts from multiple services, and they are even able to send you push notifications to notify you of a message when the app isn’t open. Not so surprisingly, all of the instant messaging apps in our Best Instant Messaging App category contain the ability to send push notifications.
The nominees for Best Instant Messaging App were:
- eBuddy by eBuddy
- fring by fringland
- Agile Messenger by Agilemobile.com
- IM+ with Push by Shape Services
- BeejiveIM by Beejive
- AIM by AOL
The winner in this category was BeejiveIM.
Which of these solid instant messaging apps have you tried? Do you believe the ability to send a push notification is a must for all iPhone and iPod touch instant messaging apps?
By commenting, you will be entered for a chance to win a download code for Beejive’s BeejiveIM. The winner will be chosen randomly at the end of the day today (end of the day means 11:59 PM ET). Download codes are only redeemable through US iTunes accounts. Please remember to include a valid email address so we can contact the winner.
I have been pining for beejive for a long time. It’s kinda expensive tho!
I’ve been using AIM but really need to switch to a multi-protocol IM client. Push notifications are a MUST for an IM client in my opinion…
Ooops… Didn’t mean to reply to Jason.
I have used aim and it has been very useful especially with push notification. I think that all chat apps need to have push or else no one will get it.
i totally wanna try out beejive .. fingers x’d .. hook me up!
Great program. COuld use a code!
I have tried fring and didn’t like it that much but I have read good things about BeejiveIM. Push notifications are a great addition to the iPhone OS
I would love to win beejive!
I have eBuddy by eBuddy, fring by fringland, Agile Messenger by Agilemobile.com installed currently along with some others. Right now it’s a tie between eBuddy and Fring. I’d love to try out Beejive IM but a little gunshy at buying another app that may not work. If it does, I’ll probably praise it until someone tells me to shut up already.
I use Fring and it’s very solid for me I don’t think that that push notifications are a must but it is a great feature
BeeJive is by FAR the best IM app on the iDevice for it’s great interface and support.
Plus, with Push notifications, the iDevice just gets better and better.
I have tried ebuddy, and it is a great free chat app for the iphone but BeejivelM is better because is a paid app that has additional features…
I think push notifications are really cool for the iphone and ipod touch because it notificates you about new things in differnet apps such as a new message in a chat app!!
I’m getting an iphone (upgrading from an iPod touch) soon, so i’d love to try it out…
I’ve been tempted by BeeJive for a long tine – even on my Blackberry. I just never bought it. Winning a copy for my iPhone would be awesome.
Beejive is THE BEST instant messaging app, have used it but also tried IM+, which is getting better but can’t come near Beejive.
Never tried beejive, but after this review, I think I might!
Beejive looks like a great app (it better be since the high cost) and it would be awesome to win this for my iPhone.
I think without push IM apps are pretty useless. Like a mail client that doesn’t check for new mail without a user doing it manually.
I have tried IM+, Beejive, and AIM, and I think the push notifications are going to become mandatory. Battery life is one of the biggest issues facing mobile devices and push notifications (if not now, definitely in the future) can help make a battery last so much longer.
Oh man I have always wanted to try beejive because I used there online application before developers could make the third party apps so getting this app would be great!!
Push is a total necessity for any instant messaging app. Unfortunately, my friends don’t even know how to use a telephone.
i use im+ daily and kinda hate it. i have palringo, and it’s great, except the “push” is useless and looses msgs… i’ve tried fring, and ebuddy, i’m not in love. im+ has the push, but palringo is way better for randomly sending off photos etc.
is beejive the perfect solution?
i would like to have beejive pleaseeee. kthxbai.
I need an IM app!
I’m using IM+ with Push, because I used it on WinMobile and it’s not that expensive as Beejive
I wish I had beejive, right now I just use free aim
I’ve been using beejive for a while now, and it’s great! The 3.0 updated interface is very fast now (I guess the 3GS probably helped too.. lol)
I have to disagree on this one. I had A LOT of issues with beejive. I would not recieve ims from people all the time. I also had issues with it crashing. I finally just switched to im and have had no issues.
I think that IM apps are one type of apps that get the most benefit out of push notifications. That is why most of them are implementing them recently. Beejive is my most-wanted app right now, would love to win it!!
I tried beejive briefly before push and was impressed. Im is just as good but the ui is not as polished. As for free ones ebuddy has a nice ui but is missing key features. Palringo is somewhat lacking these days but it has potential
IM loving IM on the iphone i am using the free v. mabe i will upgrade now with push
I have used ebuddy and fring. Disliked both and now use AIM free. So far the best but woul like something with more services.
OMG.. I have so wanted this app!! I hope I win! If I don’t I’m debating on buying whether BeeJive or IM+
I use IM but I’ve heard Beejive is better… Would love to try it!
I currently use IM+ but read that Beejive is better. Would love to try it too!
oohhhhhh – an IM! Love to have this one!
ZOMGWTFBBQDUCKSAUCE!!! I use IM+ but i want beejive…I NEED it, randomly pick me plz
eBuddy would be much better if you could stay logged in longer than 30 minutes at a time. I mostly use AIM, I just wish it would allow us to log into more than one account. I think Beejive would be an easy solution to stay logged into all my IM networks in one simple application!
I’ve been using ebuddy, it’s nice when it’s open but even though it has push, it will sometimes lose your chat…
I want one so badly!!
Aim is definitely my favorite.
I would LOOOVE Beejive! I have AIM, but I would love an upgrade….
ive tried im+ and heard beejive is better. would love a try
i wish beejive had a lite version
Tried Nimbuzz and Fringe, Nimbuzz has a 30 minute max time to keep you signed, fringe is better with that but not as my friend’s Beejive. It’s a little expensive…
How long does BeeJive keep you signed in? also does it alert you via push if one of your clients is disconnected?
I would love to have Beejive. Looks like a winner to me.
Would love to have BeejiveIM, i currently use ebuddy, but that 30 min. thing is killing me.
I have tried out both eBuddy and Nimbuzz but the issues with them are the usual, such as only staying logged in for 30 mins (for both) or not being able to do landscape mode (eBuddy) or saved histories.
If Beejive has a solution to these issues like longer login time then I might be tempted to try it out. But I am a free man who likes free things so it might be hard to convince me to buy it… Unless I got a coupon that is
Regards,
Please pick me!!! I will use Beejive to help breakdown cultural barriers one country at a time.
I’m not surprised Beejive won tbh, although I didn’t vote for it myself. I only use free IM apps unfortunately
I haven’t tried any of those yet, but would love to try Beejive.
Im is great! I love using emoji! God bless the iPhone!
I have tried two different AIM clients, specifically AIM Free and Beejive IM. My experience with Beejive IM has been much better than with AIM free for many reasons. The user interface is much more polished, the features within the IM window are great, the push notifications are reliable, horizontal keyboard support is awesome, and finally support for all sorts of different networks is also a plus! Don’t get me wrong, AIM free is a great free app and I would use it if not for Beejive.
At first I was very hesitant to throw money at something I could just get for free with AIM free and Facebook chat, but Beejive’s implementation of both of these networks is superior and worth shelling out money for.
I use Beejive IM for AIM and Facebook and couldn’t be happier with my purchase. I’d love to be able to share this fantastic social networking client with another person.
beejive is one of the best apps of instant messaging out there..
I love the idea of push-enabled iPhone IM apps – it’s what I need to truly be reachable anywhere! – but the price is what stops me every time. I love that you’re giving away a download code as part of the results show. Excellent idea!
I like instant messaging. I like giveaways. Good deal.
I like IM+, but I’ve always been curious about BeejiveIM.
I’ve only tried IM+, which is free and okay, but I would love a shot at BeejiveIM!!
I’ve been super curious about Beejive, and *really* would like to give it a go. I’ve been using eBuddy (what can I say, I’m poor/cheap… aren’t we all at some point?) Beejive looks phenomenal, and everything I’ve read on it only confirms my suspections…..
I tried AIM free, but was disappointed because most of my contacts are on other networks.
I tried ebuddy and thought it was terrible. Bad interface and staying logged in for 30 minutes was useless.
I’m now using IM+ because I bought it on sale for $4.99. So far I’ve been pretty pleased, but it seems to just work pretty well without being impressive.
Very curious about Beejive…
Wow , Im gunna have to try beejive out !! Looks like just what i need to talk to hubby when he’s in iraq !
I’ve heard over and over again that BeejiveIM is the best, but I already bought IM+ (cause it was half the price). I’d really like to check this out, but I’m not gonna buy another IM program.
I haven’t tried BeejiveIM but would love to!
i only use aim but want to try beejive …
Beejive looks very full featured but I like the price of IM+. I’ll probably end up getting Beejive eventually anyway.
BeejiveIM looks very nice, but I wish it had Skype support. Perhaps a future release……
Push notification is an absolute must unless you jailbreak and run in background.
I’ve tried eBuddy and Fring. Both very good apps. Nimbuzz is also good.
The push notification on ebuddy is slower than Fring. Fring is almost instant. Also, eBuddy only stays online in “push” mode for 30 min. maximum. Fring seems to be forever.
eBuddy allows multiple accounts in the same IM community, which Fring doesn’t. eBuddy has rotating keyboard that Fring doesn’t.
Fring has SIP calling, but eBuddy doesn’t.
Of the 3 IM apps that I tried, I rank them as:
1) Fring (no time limit for push notification, fast push, SIP)
2) Nimbuzz (rotate keyboard, fast push notification, SIP)
3) eBuddy (multiple accounts in same IM community)
The main reason Fring is my number 1 is because it has no time limit on staying online for the push nofitication.
I like Fring the best.
Push is absolutely needed.
Would love to see how much better Beejive is than the free apps
absolutely love the beejive. one of the few apps i would actually pay!
Just made it in time…I’ve tested out a couple of iPhone IM products, but none stay in memory longer than 30 minutes to send notifications…would love to get Beejive!
Umm…I think the posting times are a bit off…it’s 11:56pm EST, and my post a minute ago says 7:55pm. Interesting.
Time zone difference?
I think fring is pretty good and is free!
Hope I still hace time to win.
An IM client w/o push is like a car w/o gas. More push please!
My friends have been telling me about beejive for a long time and have been trying to get me on it as well. I’ve been hesitant because of the price…maybe it will eventually come down in price at some point. Congrats to beejive on winning though.
Beejive won – and rightfully so. I woulf really want it.
I just curious that, is there any messaging app, what can handle that multi-login system? I mean, like from two PC to the same MSN-account. Is there any app, what can handle that? I log-in form my computer, but I want to log-in to my iPod too, but without log-out from my computer?
fring should’ve won, hands down. No better, more comprehensive application!
Truly,the best instant messaging app.
I already tried AIM but was not satisfied with it. IM+ is a huge improvement over AIM, but as the results show it looks like BeejiveIM even has the edge on IM+. I would love to win this download code to see for myself, b/c I am an instant messaging addict
I’m using eBuddy because its free and I dont want to pay for Beejive. Ebuddy is I think good enough, but some feature really missing like landscape writing…
Too late?
Regardless…..Push notifs are a must. Without them these apps are useless.
I’m using IM+ but the push notifications are not that great, I would like beejive but the price is a bit steep for an application.
Never used it, too expensive, still using IM+ with push
Looks cool., would love to win this….
I have been dying to try Beejive IM. I have heard amazing things about it. I currently don’t have any good app for IM.
I voted for the AIM client primarily due to concerns over UI – Fring, eBuddy, Bejive, and IM+ all have poor usability and/or design. Dissapointed that Nimbuzz didn’t even make the list.
Great App, and it’s really at the top of messaging apps on the Apple store, simply it’s the best.
I hope I win! I also am glad it won. It is a great app!
I can’t bring myself to spend $9.99 on any IM client. so i though i would enter and try and win one.
I’ve been using nimbuzz, but wouldn’t mind getting my hands on BeeJiveIM
I’d love to try BeeJive, right now I’m struggling with IM+
beejive is amazing. i bought it after that mobilehat debacle (the mobilechat team really blew it with that one) although i reluctantly paid $16 for it when it first came out, i dont regret it now. its really a solid app that obviously had a lot of hard work and time put into it.
turn down the chance to win beejive IM? never.
I so want to win this app!
too late?
push is a must, tried the free ones and would like to get BeejiveIM