Yahoo Messenger now has an iPhone app (iTunes link). It lets you IM your friends, see their status, share photos, share links, choose emoticons, and see recent conversations. It also lets you send free text messages by choosing a contact’s mobile phone number if they are not online. Replies come back to the app, which could save you a dime each time.
When you leave the app to answer a call or do something else on your iPhone, your status is changed to idle. You can also sign out of the app entirely. (This is a workaround to the inability to have multiple apps running at the same time in the background on the iPhone).
You can check out the video below to see how Yahoo Messenger looks on the iPhone, or get more details on the Yahoo Messenger blog.
Yahoo! Messenger for the iPhone demo video from Yahoo! Messenger on Vimeo.
Looks like I may be using another Yahoo product besides Flickr. Currently that is the only Yahoo product that I use.
Messenger evolution halted with last feature “invisible”. There is scope for profiles, wall, semi-invisible etc.
Do the free text messages work for any country or is there some kind of limit?
Yes, you can use text messages in any country! *
____________
* As long as this country’s name is “United States of America”.
How is this different than the AOL IM app that brought free text messaging to iPhone when iPhone launched?
Seriously. AIM provided this feature a long time ago and still has it in their iPhone app. Toggling between IM/SMS for a contact may be an improvement, however.
Oh, hey! The demo video uses “SimFinger” from atebits: http://blog.ate...one-screencast/
It’s about time that Yahoo caught up to Google for something. I’ve been doing this with gChat for several months now (however, only to North American phone numbers).
So now Yahoo has 3 iPhone apps that all offer Y! Messenger. Why in the world do they need 3 apps to do the same thing? They also have oneConnect and then that new “combo” app that is basicall oneConnect plus search…and they have the search app called Inquisitor. Time to get out the Peanut Butter Manifesto again.
Does this mean we can get out of the ridiculous ATT text messaging plans? It seems this app would allow us to have zero outgoing (paying) text messages, yet still be charged for incoming text messages… This would be nice considering how their plans are structured: $15 for 1,500 text messages, or $5 for 200 text messages… I believe I receive less than 200 text messages a month, and would thereby be able to realize a $10/month savings if I used this app… This would be sweet!!!
If you read the content on the app. it clearly states that texting is FREE, however AT&T informed me that it will count against my texting plan (200 for me) I then called Apple and they said it should be free. Yahoo website states that carriers might charge for this. So I guess I will find out when I get my first statement.
I don’t see my MSN buddies online on the YIM iPhone app….
I have unlimited text plan, but I realize not everyone does. Google Voice also does free SMS though.
I hate it when people send me messages through IM. It’s about as tacky as calling collect.
You don’t want to pay for the conversation, but don’t mind if I do? Not only is your message cluttered with GMail/AIM spam, but I often get a second message from the IM provider immediately after they forward your message.
Why is it not available in the itunes store in Canada? Or when is it coming?
This is the beginning of the end of paying for text messages. Or should I say the beginning of the end of text messages? Text messages remind me of my old beeper. Send me a text message so I can send you an email from my phone.
Goodbye Text Messaging. This could hurt companies such as KGB and Cha Cha.
I’m waiting for Google Voice to open up. I’ve been using AIM SMS with Beejive (not wasting my money on unlimited SMS plan with AT&T anymore). May try Yahoo SMS instead.
It seems to me that this will only work for those of your friends who have a yahoo account. If you only have their mobile number you are out of luck.
This is the beginning. Others will follow. Live messenger, etc. I think there is a market for this.
If I’m understanding your comment correctly, Peter, I believe you’re incorrect. Your friends don’t need a Yahoo! account to SMS them — you just need their mobile phone number. The conversation appears exactly as if you were IMing on both devices. (The SMS message is labeled with your Yahoo! ID or name).
I think you’re right on this. This is also how the desktop version works, which is cheaper than sending a text message.
And, of course, it is not available in Canada.
The cost of SMS messaging is ludicrous. Now if iPhone 3 runs multiple apps and somebody could hook this app to the SMS indicator on the phone, you would proactively know when you receive a message. AT&T (hence Apple) is not about to allow that integration. They will tell you what software you may run on the phone you purchased. Sounds fair to me??? Good thing they didn’t make my PC.
Actually it looks like they implemented badges so if you could just leave this running while you run another app and they implement an alarm, that would do it.
Why is it so difficult to program a IM or SMS program with the wide keyboard. Jeesh!!
but why should I will ever use it?
I mean… in the end of the day – we have skype on the iphone and to ‘chat’ with the world (yahoo/google/msn etc’) you have fringe.
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http://my-iphon...zz.blogspot.com
What does “sign in as invisible” mean?
the app cannot be downloaded from France.
Too bad
finally!
I have not yet found an app that does this for gmail. This is an interesting concept but I have found through the use of this app and others like it that they are still pretty weak. Quite a bit is still lost in translation between the phone operations and the internet capability. I look forward to an app that is completely integrated.
There’s an iPhone app called Yahoo! which apparently supports pretty much any kind of IM you can imagine, including GMail.
Awesome app. Like how you can shoot pics and send right from in the messenger. I’ll be using this more than the desktop messenger. And really love FREE!
Great, again Yahoo! is going every which way making competing apps. They now have OneConnect, YMessenger, Inquisitor and just Yahoo! for iPhone. All 4 apps overlap like 80%. Moreover, when I installed Yahoo! on my iPhone, OneConnect lost all the contact info.
how do I “signout” of Yahoo IM app for the iPhone 3g?
Isnt there an app on the G1 that lets you text like an Iphone
Did I understand right…if you use yahoo on your iPhone, outgoing is free but incoming costs???
i have the same question like PJTN66, is it really free for iphone 3G for using this YM app without any cost at all, or is it just free for outgoing messages but not for incoming messages??????and what about sending email through facebook app, i heard that it also cost some dimes….if it really does then DANGNABBIT!
I’m trying to send an SMS to a mobile number overseas (South Korea) and I keep getting an error message – “invalid mobile number”. What’s up with that?
Guys, I would suggest you one software that add worth in your cell.
Messmo is a free application and compatible for all mobiles that support GPRS and mobile internet. No need to pay to download.
Once installed, you can send Free SMS to any mobile, Text messages, attachments… and much more!