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4.7 star rating
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Lifestyle
iOS
What is the best IM client for iOS?
12
Options
Considered
159
User
Recs.
May 20, 2023
Last
Updated
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11
Options
Considered
Best IM client for iOS
Price
Platforms
Media
63
Telegram
-
Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD, Windows phone, UWP
images / video / audio / GIFs / stickers / PiP Video / Videomessages
60
IMO
-
-
-
60
IM+
-
-
-
58
Verbs
-
-
-
54
Kik
-
-
-
See Full List
63
Telegram
My Rec
ommendation
for
Telegram
My Recommendation for
Telegram
All
29
Experiences
2
Pros
23
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Truly cross-platform and open API
Not only does Telegram have an Android, iOS and WP app, but it also has a client for desktops on Windows, OSX and Linux. Basically any device one owns, Telegram has a client that runs on it.
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Top
Con
•••
Can only be used with a phone number
It is not possible to activate and use Telegram by mail etc. You need a phone number.
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AssertiveMokosh's Experience
Easy to use, fast and secure.
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Specs
Platforms:
Web, Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD, Windows phone, UWP
Media:
images / video / audio / GIFs / stickers / PiP Video / Videomessages
VoIP:
Yes
Groups:
≤ 100,000
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Cloud data sync
Telegram synchronizes all data in the cloud for easy access to all your files and conversations on any device.
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Top
Con
•••
Only "Secret Chat" messages are encrypted end to end
The only way to get end to end encryption using Telegram is to use the Secret Chat function, anything through the service is not encrypted.
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Rebel's Experience
The best messenger period.
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Top
Pro
•••
Secure
Telegram uses an open source MTProto encryption protocol that provides complete end-to-end encryption for secret chats. To show off their confidence in the protocol the company behind Telegram has organized $200,000 and $300,000 challenges to break the encryption. So far there have been no winners.
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Top
Con
•••
Not open source
Telegram has an open API and protocol free for everyone, but the backend software is not open source. Therefore 100% privacy can not be evaluated.
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Top
Pro
•••
Beautiful UI
Very customizable with a lot of clean looking options.
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Top
Pro
•••
Media messaging
Videos, gifs, images, geolocation, and documents.
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Top
Pro
•••
Privacy focused
In addition to the end-to-end encryption that provides privacy to communications, the app also includes self destructing timers for chats, and the ability to permanently delete messages, yours and theirs, from your device.
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Top
Pro
•••
Super-groups of up to 100,000 people
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Top
Pro
•••
Video messages
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Top
Pro
•••
Cross platform
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Top
Pro
•••
Self-destruct timer for messages
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Top
Pro
•••
Pinned messages
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Top
Pro
•••
Bot platform API
Telegram features its own API platform to easily create and share bots.
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Top
Pro
•••
Audio calls
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Top
Pro
•••
Possible to send photos and videos without compression
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Top
Pro
•••
Channels for one way broadcasting
Broadcasting channels suitable for announcing things.
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Top
Pro
•••
Customer support is within the app
Although it's volunteer based, but still pretty top-notch if available, which it tends to be.
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Top
Pro
•••
High quality calls
Uses the latest GPL audio codecs, such as Opus, an adaptative high-quality codec that supersedes AAC at any bitrate.
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Top
Pro
•••
Save time with inline bots and link previews
Unfortunately, on the desktop videos don't play, but images are viewable without visiting popular websites like imgur and Instagram. You can play YouTube videos and others within the app, so you don't need to embed code or anything. With inline bots, such as @gif, @pic/bing, @vid/YouTube, etc, you can look things up without leaving the client or chat that you're in. Simply type the name and some keywords and wait for the results to load.
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Top
Pro
•••
Desktop app handles HIDPI
The desktop app has a built in setting to scale the UI of the app up to 200% which allows for those with 4k monitors/screens to use the app without scaling issues.
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Top
Pro
•••
Free of cost
The application is available free of cost.
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Top
Pro
•••
Two-step verification
You can set up an additional password to your account, which can be reset by your email. You don't have to use an email if you do not want to. If you lose access to your email or forget your password, you will be able to reset it via text message if your account is over seven days old and will receive it within a week (in case you recover anything before then).
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Top
Pro
•••
Free and convenient large file sharing
Copy/paste videos, gifs, images, geolocation, and documents, drag over files for practically any time up to 1.5GB in size. Images can be compressed, too. asdf f
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Top
Pro
•••
Cloud chat keys are kept in different jurisdiction
Even though encryption used for cloud-based storage (e.g. Gmail, Facebook, iCloud) may not be as secure as end-to-end encryption or zero-knowledge storage, Telegram does the most that it can by holding keys to chats in different jurisdictions, requiring intergovernmental cooperation to obtain the keys. This is aside from whatever other security measures have been taken, of course.
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Recommend
24
60
IMO
My Rec
ommendation
for
IMO
My Recommendation for
IMO
All
9
Pros
8
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
Video call support
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Top
Con
•••
No support for third-party instant messaging networks
On March 3, 2014, IMO will start discontinuing support for all third-party instant messaging networks.
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Top
Pro
•••
Beautiful User Interface
Although IMO has a comparable, and in some cases superior, feature set when compared to the competition its key selling point is its interface. From LifeHacker when it won "Best IM Client": Signing on, navigating chats by tapping the tabs at the bottom, searching for buddies, and virtually any other operation is easy to find and use. The app, itself, is very quick. Even sending a voice IM, if you don't feel like typing, is responsive and sends quickly. Everything imo does it does well, but it's excellent navigation really makes it top notch. IMO also has a fully functional website that you can use for chat while on your desktop or laptop. This really puts IMO ahead of the competition as you can use the same system on all your devices so you don't have to deal with overlapping notifications etc. (Note: IM+ also has this feature) It should also be noted that it has the highest rating in the App Store due to both the UI and its stability.
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Top
Pro
•••
Easy to switch between conversations with tabs
Tabbed chats make it easy to switch between conversations
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Top
Pro
•••
Lists and chat histories are searchable
Both your buddy lists and chat histories are searchable.
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Top
Pro
•••
Accounts can be linked so you don't have to sign in to several accounts
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Top
Pro
•••
Push notifications
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Top
Pro
•••
Concurrent sessions
Concurrent sessions allow you to be logged in on your desktop while also being logged in on your phone.
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Top
Pro
•••
Chat groups
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Get it
here
Recommend
30
4
60
IM+
My Rec
ommendation
for
IM+
My Recommendation for
IM+
All
9
Pros
9
Top
Pro
•••
Can send encrypted messages
IM+ has the most extensive client support out of any of its competition and is the only app with the ability to send secure, off-the-record messages.
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Top
Pro
•••
Simple user interface
IM+ does the core IM experience incredibly well. The layout is intuitive to use and the very high app store reviews indicate how stable and user friendly the app is.
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Top
Pro
•••
Advanced chat history
Access your messaging history in the app or on the web
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Top
Pro
•••
View Twitter feed
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Off-the-Record Messaging (As a paid upgrade)
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Group Chats
Skype, MSN, AIM, and ICQ only
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Photo, voice, video and IM messaging
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Top
Pro
•••
Web application to chat from your desktop or laptop
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Top
Pro
•••
Extensive client support
IM+ has the most extensive client support out of any of its competition: Facebook Skype MSN/Live Messenger GTalk Yahoo! AIM/iChat ICQ Twitter Jabber Renren VKontakte Odnoklassniki.Ru Mail.Ru Agent Gadu-Gadu MeinVZ SINA Weibo mig33 Fetion Mamba Yandex IM.
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here
Recommend
26
4
58
Verbs
My Rec
ommendation
for
Verbs
My Recommendation for
Verbs
All
8
Pros
7
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
View downloaded Office and iWork documents right within the app
With support for CloudApp and Droplr, you can send Photos and view PDFs, Office and iWork documents right within Verbs.
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Top
Con
•••
Notable client support exceptions
IM/MobileMe MSN/Windows Live Yahoo! Facebook Jabber ICQ
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Top
Pro
•••
Minimalist approach and a beautiful interface
Verbs distinguishes itself from the competition with a minimalist approach to IM and a beautiful interface.
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Top
Pro
•••
Use CloudApp and Droplr to send Photos
With support for CloudApp and Droplr, you can send Photos and view PDFs, Office and iWork documents right within Verbs.
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Top
Pro
•••
Client Support
AIM Google Talk Facebook MobileMe
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Finds and displays your AIM and Gtalk buddies linked in AddressBook
See your Facebook friends, your AIM buddies and your Google contacts in a unified buddy list
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Top
Pro
•••
Send chat logs via email
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Top
Pro
•••
Mark links in received messages to read later via Instapaper
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Get it
here
Recommend
14
1
54
Kik
My Rec
ommendation
for
Kik
My Recommendation for
Kik
All
6
Pros
5
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
Alexis Sandy
620166384
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Top
Con
•••
Not for young people
Kik has a lot of sexual predators and can be dangerous for kids.
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Top
Pro
•••
Push is quick
Push notifications are extremely quick.
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Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
Support for iOS, Android, and Blackberry.
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Top
Pro
•••
Built-in browser
Kik is the first messenger with a built-in browser.
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Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use interface
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Get it
here
Recommend
11
1
--
Beejive
My Rec
ommendation
for
Beejive
My Recommendation for
Beejive
All
9
Pros
8
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
Automatically reconnects
Beejive will also automatically reconnects after being out of network coverage and sends you any messages you received while offline.
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Top
Con
•••
Does not support Skype
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Top
Pro
•••
High level of customizability for power users
Nearly all of the core features and visual elements can be tweaked.
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Top
Pro
•••
Share Files
Send and receive files, including pictures and voice notes.
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Top
Pro
•••
Customizable chat skins & emoticon support
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Top
Pro
•••
Information stored locally
All account information (usernames & passwords) are stored locally on your Android smartphone and not kept on our servers.
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Top
Pro
•••
Email your chats
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Full Unicode support
Chat in any language supported by your iPhone
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Top
Pro
•••
Chat Protocol Support
IM®/MobileMe® MSN®/Windows Live® Yahoo!® GoogleTalk® Facebook MySpace Jabber
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Recommend
11
1
--
Hop
My Rec
ommendation
for
Hop
My Recommendation for
Hop
All
5
Experiences
1
Pros
4
Top
Pro
•••
Turns your e-mail into mobile messaging
The app takes your email provider such as Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or iCloud and uses their infrastructure and your established contact-list there and creates a messaging platform.
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Dvir Ben-Aroya's Experience
I love that I can do messaging and email in just one client without switching between applications, also I can search both at the same time. And there is a plethora of additional cool features like group chat, ai based email triage etc. But the best thing is that I can chat (and group chat) with anyone in the world that has an email account, they don't need to use Hop.
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Top
Pro
•••
Users can see when another person is typing
Users can even see when another person is typing, as you would with iMessage or chat.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports voice and video calling
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Top
Pro
•••
Hop is the ultimate unified conversational tool for productivity and communication
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Hide
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Get it
here
Recommend
8
1
--
WhatsApp
My Rec
ommendation
for
WhatsApp
My Recommendation for
WhatsApp
All
6
Pros
2
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Hugely popular
WhatsApp reported 1.5 billion users in 2018. Your friends are most likely already using WhatsApp, so it's easy to get setup.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Shares meta data with Facebook
WhatsApp shares your messaging meta data with Facebook if you do not opt-out in the settings. If you use the same phone number for WhatsApp and Facebook, the profiles can easily be linked. See https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/26000016
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Specs
Platforms:
Android, iOS, Web, Mac, Windows, Windows Phone
Media:
images, video, audio, documents
VoIP:
Yes
Groups:
≤ 256
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Straightforward interface
The interface is very simple, fast and easy to use. WhatsApp does a great job of focusing on the basics behind messaging. The app is simple to use, fast & very polished. You can start using it as soon as the app has been downloaded - it does not require setting anything up or registering. You can communicate with anyone in your contacts list that also uses WhatsApp. Includes useful features like seeing when a contact is currently available or typing.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Proprietary
Not open source.
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Top
Con
•••
Account is limited to one device
You cannot use the same whatsapp account on multiple devices (e.g. a tablet, a PC and a cellphone). The account is tied to the device with the specific cellphone number. That also means that there's no sync since it doesn't keep conversations when switching operating systems or devices.
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here
Recommend
7
4
--
Threema
My Rec
ommendation
for
Threema
My Recommendation for
Threema
All
5
Pros
3
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Access to Contacts not required
See More
Top
Con
•••
Not open source
Privacy cannot be evaluated
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Android / iOS / WP
Media:
images / video / audio
VoIP:
No
Groups:
Yes
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Full end to end encryption
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Does not send meta data
No data for any attachment.
See More
Hide
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$1.99
Recommend
2
1
--
AstraChat
My Rec
ommendation
for
AstraChat
My Recommendation for
AstraChat
All
6
Pros
4
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Direct connect
See More
Top
Con
•••
No OTR service
Off-the-Record Messaging (OTR) is a cryptographic protocol that provides encryption for instant messaging conversations. Astrachat doesn't include this protocol, that it is often included in other XMPP services.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows , Linux , Mac , Android , iOS
Media:
Yes
VoIP:
Yes
Groups:
Yes
See All Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Secure
Messages are received from clients using secured (TLS or SSL) XMPP (jabber) protocol.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Network efficient
AstraChat is tuned to make very efficient use of the network connection and processor so you can be confident that it will use very little of your battery or data allowance.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports a lot of protocol
RFC-3920:Core RFC-3921:Instant Messaging and Presence XEP-0012 Last Activity XEP-0016 Privact lists XEP-0054 VCARD-temp XEP-0085 Chat State Notifications XEP-0153 vCard-Based Avatars XEP-0172 User Nickname XEP-0184 Message delivery receipts XEP-0191 Blocking commands XEP-0198 Stream Management XEP-0199 XMPP Ping XEP-0176: Jingle ICE-UDP XEP-0136: Message Archiving XEP-0045: Multi-User Chat
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0
Recommend
3
--
iMessage
My Rec
ommendation
for
iMessage
My Recommendation for
iMessage
All
9
Pros
8
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
Built in
Comes already with the OS.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Not cross-platform
iMessage is not available on anything but Apple devices.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform within Apple ecosystem
iMessage is available on iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Friends don't need to "sign up"
You can just message them using their existing phone number or Apple ID and they will get your message.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Heavily integrated into iOS
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Top
Pro
•••
Free and unlimited messages over Wi-Fi and data
Messages clearly indicates whether messages are being sent over iMessage (blue) or SMS (green) where messaging rates apply. iMessages do not count as SMS messages with your carrier, instead they use a negligible amount of data to send over Wi-Fi and cellular data networks.
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Top
Pro
•••
Supports voice messages
Short voice recordings/messages can be quickly sent, and messages can be easily dictated into written messages as well.
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Top
Pro
•••
Clear indicators for message delivery and receipt
The app indicates when messages have been sent, when they have been read, and when someone is typing.
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Top
Pro
•••
Secure end-to-end encryption
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Recommend
3
1
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Signal Private Messenger
My Rec
ommendation
for
Signal Private Messenger
My Recommendation for
Signal Private Messenger
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Recommend
2
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