iPhone social networking apps are still slowly adopting push notifications and apparently fring was next on the list.
fring is one of those apps that is able to keep you connected with friends and family in a variety of ways. It features the ability to send and receive instant messages and VoIP calls over a bunch of different services, including Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo!, ICQ, Twitter, and SIP.
Thanks to the v1.2.0.8 update, fring now supports push notifications for all of the services listed above. The push notifications show up as a badge on the app icon and they also appear as a pop-up. The pop-up doesn’t display the message itself, as it merely states that you have a message awaiting, but it does bring you directly to the relevant message.
At this point we are unsure how long fring is able to stay logged in for after it has been closed. The app’s description doesn’t mention anything, and neither does the app itself. fring‘s own website doesn’t even give a definite answer. This is information is somewhat important since some users are reporting issues with receiving push notifications, so we decided to contact them and we are currently awaiting a response. If any of you are able to obtain this information, feel free to let us in on the secret.
UPDATE: fring has responded to our inquiry about how long the app stays logged in for with this message:
Currently the push notifications service is available for all services (including fring, Skype etc) The time is currently set to 6-8 hours. We will be adjusting this perion based on users’ feedbacks.
Even with the somewhat hit and miss push notifications, fring is a worthy push-capable instant message and VoIP app. Since it is available in the App Store for free, it’s not much of a risk just to try it out. We have also added fring to our Apps That Push You Applist.
Embedded below is a goofy video announcing push notifications created by the fring team.
[Thanks to saeedk786 for the tip!]
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fring is a really good app especially now that it has push notifications!!
All social networking apps wil get push hopefully yahoo messenger will be next.
My main social networking app is Fring, I find it’s really good
since 5h i´m online on icq with closed fring…. no problems with push. works great
Good to see Fring adding push. Hope this cheers up Ian a bit.
ReaddleDocs looks interesting
Fring would look great on my ipod.
I updated the latest version of fring, it works great but……… it only seems to keep me conected for about 15 minutes. I tried it out with two accounts (one from my pc and the one connected via fring on my iPhone) after 18 minutes I came to notice I was disconnected. It was such a dissapointment since I’ve been searching for a free IM client+push since 3.0 was released, I guess I’ll have to keep waiting ’til IM+ gives its Lite version the Push treatment, or maybe the next realease of Fring. If someone had a different Fring+Push experience please let me know… thanks
my icq is still online ^^ since 5h + 1,5h
Grr, I hate that all the free IM apps only keep you logged in to push for max half an hour, I don’t want to spend money on something I rarely use, although when I do I’d like to be able to stay logged in for as long as I want.
I wonder if it costs a great deal more (in server costs) to keep users logged in. That might explain why Nimbuzz can only keep you logged in for 30 minutes, while AIM & IM can go much longer. Come on, Meebo. Give us 3 days.
i signed in to skype and quit the app over night. checked in the morning and it was still signed in. so unless you get disconnected for some odd reason fring keeps you signed in. ive tested skype for up to 6 hours and it was still signed in.
works really well.
i need skype to be signed in and fring does exactly that. i did buy im+ for it but realised they only keep skype signed in for a hour and then they disconnect you. i contacted them and they say its due to technical restrictions
Congrats to our winner, Matthew! Your code has been sent via email.
Push for incoming voIP calls? fantastic! when will we be getting an update for the oficial Skype iPhone app?
I’ve been waiting for push notification for SIP! Awesome!
push notification for SIP incoming calls doesn’t work… have someone ever made this work?
Fring is great, however, it would be great if stays on more time, after 1 hour it disconnects, if they say that should stay connected for 5 to 6 h is there any other setting that has to be enabled in order to have all that time…
Thank you