• IM+
August 27, 2008 – 11:46 pmWhat’s this? Another multi-protocol IM client for the iPhone? IM+ just appeared on the App Store, and at the competitive price of free. A quick look at the developer’s website reveals IM+ to be a multi-platform client, with versions available for most mobile phones. They’re also based in Germany, which may explain this1:
Connection error
The ID [JID removed to protect the innocent] does not exist or do now allow subscribshion
That’s sort of cute. The interface is otherwise pretty tidy and easy to use, though not very feature-rich — presence options are limited to online, away, invisible, and offline. The Inbox icon at the bottom of the screen updates when a new message comes in, but tapping it leads to a confusing list of open chats. Apparently the envelope with paper in it means no unread messages, but a closed message means one or more unread messages.
One-to-one conversations are functional, if not pretty. Instead of MobileChat’s Adium-style conversation windows, IM+ offers the simpler approach of alternating blue and red usernames. Only the remote contact’s username is shown — the local user is simply “You”.
Also unlike MobileChat, IM+ doesn’t appear to be doing any proxying, instead connecting you directly to the server. This means that when you close the app, your connection is terminated, but the upshot is that none of your login credentials or private conversations are being stored on someone else’s servers.
XMPP support is included (yay!), but IM+ sweetens the deal with AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and MySpace IM support.
The app feels stable enough, and the major features are in order. If not for the god-awful ugly icon and some interface quirks, this could be a five-star application. As it stands, I’m very excited to see someone stepping up to give MobileChat some competition.
Update - Scott A. McIntyre has emailed me with a detailed analysis of IM+ traffic that may indicate something worse than proxying. Please see this article for details
- To clarify, the error occurred because I had a pending subscription request to an invalid contact. In short, I mistyped someone’s name, and the client was reporting the error. [↩]