Best iPhone IM app?

[jensbodal]

What IM apps have you used for the iPhone, and what seems to have the least affect on battery life/performance? I need to get an app that supports Google chat and has push notifications, basically the closest equivalent to what I experience on my Android phone with gChat. I would like it to replace text messages, and I don't mind if it costs money, but I want it to run silently in the background but always be around for receiving messages.

The options I am aware of are:

IM+
Palringo
Beejive
Trillian

But I don't believe the free versions which I can test support push, so I cannot really get a feel for how well the program works and how it will affect battery life.

 

[Emulex]

beejive is great but trillian rocks.

 

[Qbah]

I use BeejiveIM. Excellent IM client. Has gchat, MSN, Jabber and Facebook chat (and a few more I don't use). Push works perfectly. I actually run it all the time (JB + Backgrounder) and with Reminder I get a cool icon on my status bar when someone's writing things to me and I'm browsing or doing other stuff

 

[jensbodal]

So you have to jailbreak to run it all the time? I would like something that will basically function the same as text messages, but will not affect the phone otherwise. Jailbreaking isn't an option since it's not my phone plus she will probably get the iPhone 4 soon enough.

 

[bobdole369]

I simply use text messaging anymore, and have migrated from gchat/AIM.

 

[Qbah]

So you have to jailbreak to run it all the time? I would like something that will basically function the same as text messages, but will not affect the phone otherwise. Jailbreaking isn't an option since it's not my phone plus she will probably get the iPhone 4 soon enough.

It has regular push notifications. You set a log-out timer (from none [log-out on quit] to 2 days) in settings and you're appearing as logged in to everybody, even when you quit the app. When someone sends you a message, you get a push notification next to the app's icon. You start it up, it loads, logs in to the servers and the messages are sent to you fully.

With jailbreaking, it's running the whole time in the background So it doesn't have to load each time and log in to the servers when you quit it (as you actually don't). Of course you can quit it too and it behaves normally (same as non-JB).

In the end, the functionality is the same for both stock and JB. However, JB is so much faster

 

[nickbits]

I'm pretty sure the free versions of IM+ & Palringo support push. Both of those would be my picks but I haven't really tried the others. I hate "skinned" apps and a lot of the other ones seem to cater to that crowd.

And with IM+ you get the iPad version as well.

 

[jensbodal]

I simply use text messaging anymore, and have migrated from gchat/AIM.

Problem is we will spend some time overseas and texts would get expensive quite fast. We can skype for phone conversations, and if I don't find something to replace texting we will just email, but I think I might check out Beejive and Trillian and see how they are.

 

[Kmax82]

Problem is we will spend some time overseas and texts would get expensive quite fast. We can skype for phone conversations, and if I don't find something to replace texting we will just email, but I think I might check out Beejive and Trillian and see how they are.

I haven't tried Trillian, but I use Beejive extensively and think that the app is great. Works quite well with every IM protocol I've tried (FB, MSN, Yahoo, AIM, Jabber).

It doesn't background, but it does push messages, which, if you're on a 3GS, is just as quick as backgrounding IMO. Although, it does get annoying going back and forth if you're trying to look stuff up. 4.0 should solve some of that though.

 

[jensbodal]

I completely forgot to ask about Meebo. It looks like there is an iPhone app, and it seems to also be free. I have Meebo for my Android for when I want to IM people that aren't using gChat (although it does support gChat), and it seems to work just fine. No idea how it affects battery life but it is free and receives push notifications.

 

[Kmax82]

I completely forgot to ask about Meebo. It looks like there is an iPhone app, and it seems to also be free. I have Meebo for my Android for when I want to IM people that aren't using gChat (although it does support gChat), and it seems to work just fine. No idea how it affects battery life but it is free and receives push notifications.

Yea.. I had a few issues with Meebo and keeping me signed in, but I haven't used it in quite a while.

 

[jensbodal]

Well I guess we will see if Meebo works, otherwise I am definitely buying Beejive. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[Narse]

Trillian all the way IMO. Great interface on the iPhone and support for PC and iPhone connectivity at the same time rocks.