Here is a good list of the best IM’s (Instant messengers) for MAC OS X.
Adium for Mac OS X:
Adium is a free highly customizable multiprotocal instant messenger for Mac OS X.
Adium can connect to:
AOL Instant Messenger (Including ICQ and .Mac)
Jabber (Including Google Talk and LiveJournal)
MSN Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger (Including Yahoo! Japan)
(Compatible with iChat)
MySpace IM
Gadu-Gadu
Novell Groupwise
QQ
Lotus Sametime
Adium supports the following languages:
Brazilian Portuguese, Canadian English, Australian English, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, French (Canadian), German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish.
Adium | HomePage
Adium | Download
MSN Messenger for Mac OS X:
Who isn’t familiar with MSN =). Microsoft’s MSN messenger designed for the mac platform. I have already posted the link from where you can Download MSN 7 for Mac.
For more information and download links visit Download MSN 7 (Latest up to date) or visit the official website.
Mercury Messenger for Mac OS X:
Mercury Messenger is also a good alternative msn messenger client for Mac.
Mercury messenger features:
Sign in with multiple accounts
Fast file transfering
Simultaneous sending & receiving webcam
Offline messaging
Extensive event notifications
User defined event actions
Single window (tabbed) conversations
Customizable contact list
Customizable message views
Custom status icons
Custom emoticons
Resource saving (Webcam streams,
Display pictures, Emoticons)
HTTP Proxy
Yahoo contacts
Audio/Video conference
Multi OS
Runs from USB stick
Language support
Mercury | HomePage
Mercury | Download
Yahoo Messenger for Mac OS X:
Another great instant messenger for Mac is yahoo Of course. Latest version of yahoo messenger for Mac is 3.0 with cool features like
Instant Messaging: Send text messages in real-time to your friends on Yahoo! or Windows Liveâ„¢ Messenger.
Chat Rooms: Join a chat room to meet new friends while you discuss your favorite topics.
PC-to-PC Calls: Make a voice call to another Yahoo! Messenger user for free (microphone and speakers/headset required).
Phone Out (PC-to-Phone Calls): Call friends on their regular or mobile phones from Messenger for as low as 1¢ a minute (Phone Out account required).
Phone In (Get a Phone Number for Messenger): Get a new phone number that allows you to receive calls in Yahoo! Messenger (Phone In account required).
SMS (Text Messaging): Send text messages from Messenger to your friends mobile phones for free.
Webcam: Plug in your webcam to share live video with your friends on Yahoo! Messenger.
IM conferences, file transfers, content search bar and the list goes on.
Yahoo Messenger for Mac OS X (3.0) | HomePage
Yahoo Messenger for Mac OS X (3.0) | Download
Skype:
Skype is another popular IM alternative for Mac. Main feature of Skype is their free Skype-to-Skype calls, conferences, history features, uses low resources and much more.
Skype for Mac | Homepage
Skype for Mac | Download
If you use iChat for Mac then Chax is for you. Chax is a awesome add-on for MAC iChat.
With features (latest version 2.1.2) like:
- Unified contact list shows all contacts from all accounts in one window
- Growl notifications for new messages and users changing status
- Automatically resize the contact list to fit the number of visible users
- Built-in log viewer
- Activity log that displays your contacts’ status changes
- Auto-accept file transfers, AV chats, and screen sharing requests
- Toggle text status visibility of users
- Always on top option for contact list, message windows and AV chats
- Set font of names, status messages, and group separators
- Option to auto-accept text chats, skipping new message notification window
- Show status changes directly in the message window
- Additional unread message notifications in the Dock
- Automatically go away when the screensaver activates
- Properly use ICQ accounts without sending text formatting in messages
You shouldn’t be missing out on this one.
Chax | Official Website
Chax | Download
Great collection of instant messenger apps. Good job
Thanks =)
Nimbuzz released their multi-messenger Mac client last week : http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/15/nimbuzz-releases-mac-desktop-client-iphone-app-updates/
should have mentioned wich IMs that can use webcam. MSN can NOT even tho theyre front pic on theyre homepage is some ugly lady chatting with webcam.
Does Adium support gtalk separately? does anyone know when would ichat support video chat with gtalk and also give a email notification.
MSN Messenger for Mac isn’t so hot. You’re better off getting a different one.
I just got my my macbook pro recently, and I decided to use Adium for instant messaging. I think it’s great, except that I just realized I can’t re-arrange my contacts and move them around into different groups. That, or I haven’t figured out how to yet.
Anyone knows how? If it can’t be done with Adium, do you know of any other applications that can?
Oh wait, I just figured it out. :/
Oh wait, I just figured it out -.-
Oh, wait. I just figured out -.-
WOW. Horrible list. Yahoo Messenger shouldn’t even be on this list. The number of people who have issues with this messenger client on a mac are too many to count. Yahoo Messenger for Mac doesn’t connect much of the time and when it does, it connects for a few seconds then disconnects, then reconnects in an endless annoying cycle.
Adium is ok, but it doesn’t support many of the features like file sharing and video chat.
If these are the 6 best, then it’s woefully obvious that Mac needs newer and better chat clients.
I AGREE with BART! but for different reasons… i DON’T have connectivity issues with my Yahoo messenger for mac, however it does lack lot’s of feautres! Such as inverting the webcam image… and the ability to use your alias names…. and the BUZZ!! feature is not available either. Such simple things are not available…. it really sucks!