iOS App Review: IM+ Pro

If you were born anytime in the last 20+ years, you most likely have more than one instant messaging account.

For years, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk & the myriad of other protocols, vied for your attention on the desktop driving you to create and maintain multiple profiles with which to communicate with your friends. Then came the introduction of the ever prevalent Facebook and now, you’ve got yet another means of messaging people you know.

So what do you do when you want to bring all of these means of communicating to your smartphone? You use something like IM+ Pro.

While it’s not the only app available in the app store that can offer the functionality of allowing you to access multiple protocols, it is, in my opinion, the best of the lot.

It’s not difficult to see that there are certainly tons of available services to choose from and it’s nice to be able to manage them all from a single app. The app itself has a nice clean interface with the ability to retain chat history as well (the history is stored on IM+ servers for you).

Push Settings

Within the settings, you are able to set IM+ to keep your IM services connected when you exit the app. You can also set a timeout ranging from 10 minutes to 7 days, which should be more than enough for the average user. There is also a notification option where the app will warn you when your push session is about to expire so you can extend it. Of course, you can set alert tones and methods of notification as well.

Other Settings

There are plenty of other settings as well such as automatic picture resizing (you can choose between 640×480 all the way up to 1600×1200 or simply retain the original size) for picture messaging & you can even prevent the device from sleeping if you have it enabled. Themes and wallpapers can easily be set and and the system even has an integrated web browser.

Chatting

Using the system to message your friends and family is easy and intuitive. The interface is clean and, as mentioned, customizable so you don’t have to be stuck looking at the same dull background for as long as you use the app, you can always change it.

Do you use Google Talk? It can also check your email for you as well and notify you of new messages.

Overall, I’m confident in saying that in my every day use, I think IM+ Pro is the best there is for instant messaging on the iPhone without the hefty price tag of some of it’s competitors (Beejive, etc.).

For it’s current price of $1.99, it’s a great deal. You can grab it from here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id296246130?mt=8 or read more about it on the developers official website: IM+ Pro