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Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by FairyMary (talk | contribs) at 14:52, 30 January 2007 (→‎Features 2). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

[original research?]

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of instant messaging clients. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. External links lead to extensions that add a feature to a client.

An OpenOffice 1.0 spreadsheet with the information in this article (as of 29 March 2006) is available.

General information

Basic general information about the instant messengers: creator/company, license/price, amongst others.

Author / Creator First public release date Type Latest stable version Cost (USD) Software license
Adium Adam Iser, Evan Schoenberg September, 2001 Multi-protocol Template:Latest stable release/Adium X Free GPL v2
Agile Messenger Agilemobile.com Limited ? Multi-protocol 3.70 Subscription Proprietary
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) AOL May, 1997 Single protocol 6.0 (Windows)
1.0.2 Build 110 Beta (Pro (Win))
1.3.30.1 (Triton (Win))
4.7.1333 (Mac OS X)
1.5.286 (Linux) 		Free
Adware 		Proprietary
aMSN Alvaro J. Iradier Muro May, 2002 Single protocol 0.96 Free GPL
Ayttm Colin Leroy and Philip Tellis April, 2003 Multi-protocol 0.4.6-17 Free GPL
BitWise IM BitWise Communications, LLC March 17, 2002 Single protocol/Encrypted 1.7.1 Free Proprietary
BitlBee Wilmer van der Gaast August 9, 2002 IRC Gateway, Multi-protocol 1.0.3 Free GPL
Centericq Konstantin Klyagin ? Multi-protocol 4.21.0 Free GPL
Coccinella Mats Bengtsson December 1, 1999 Single protocol 0.95.15 Free GPL
Cspace Cspace July 28, 2006 Single protocol 1.26 Free GPL
eMeSeNe Luis Mariano Guerra 24 May, 2006 Single protocol 0.2.2 Free GPL
Exodus Peter Millard 2002 Single protocol 0.9.1.0 Free GPL
Fire Eric Peyton April 1, 1999 Multi-protocol Template:Latest stable release/Fire Free GPL
Gaim Mark Spencer November, 1998 Multi-protocol 1.5.0 (August 12, 2005) [±] Free GPL
Gajim Yann Le Boulanger May 21, 2004 Single protocol 0.11 Free GPL
GCN Jason K. Resch November 18, 2000 Single protocol 2.9.1 Free
Adware 		Proprietary
GOIM Herbert Poul August 16, 2005 Single protocol 1.1.0 Free GPL
Goofey Tim Mackenzie Early 1990s Single protocol 2.08 Free ?
Google Talk Google, Inc. August 24, 2005 Single protocol Windows Plugin:

3.19.1.13088 (May 14, 2013; 11 years ago (2013-05-14)) [±]

Free Proprietary
iChat Apple Computer August, 2002 Multi-protocol 3.1.6 (441) Free Proprietary
ICQ Mirabilis November, 1996 Single protocol 5.1 Free
Adware 		Proprietary
IM+ SHAPE Services 2002 Multi-protocol Depends on version Shareware Proprietary
IM2 IM2 Ltd. April, 2003 Multi-protocol 2.0.0.268 Free Proprietary
imeem IM2 Limited 2003 Multi-protocol 1.24.14.17016 Free GPL
IMVITE IMVITE Inc. August, 2005 Multi-protocol 1.3 Free
Adware 		Proprietary
IMVU ? Single-protocol beta Free Proprietary
Instan-t Interactive Networks Inc. March, 2001 Multi-protocol 4.5 Free Proprietary
Interaction Chat Auriance August, 2006 HTTP 1.0 Free Proprietary
Jabbin Jabbin Team December 2005 Multi-protocol 2.0 beta2 Free GPL v2
JMSN sediah, xrath 2002 Single protocol 0.9.9b2 Free BSD
Kadu Kadu Team August, 2001 Single protocol 0.4.3 Free GPL v2
Konnekt Stamina 2002 Multi-protocol 0.6.22.137 Free Proprietary
Kopete Kopete Team March 3, 2002 Multi-protocol 0.12.3 Free GPL
Licq Graham Roff (up to v1.0)
Jon Keating 		June 22, 1998 Multi-protocol 1.3.2 Free GPL
MECA Messenger ? Multi-protocol, Web-based 5.2 Free Proprietary
meebo Meebo, Inc. 2005 Multi-protocol, Web-based alpha v19 Free ?
Meetro Paul Bragiel & Samuel Stauffer 2005 Multi-protocol 0.96 Beta (Win)
0.53 Beta (MacOSX) 		Free ?
Mercury Messenger Danny 2003 Multi-protocol 1.8 Free Proprietary
mICQ Mattew D. Smith (up to ICQv5); Rüdiger Kuhlmann 1997(?); 2001 Single protocol 0.5.2 Free GPL v2
MindSpring Earthlink April 3, 2006 Multi-protocol 1.0 (v53.0) Free Proprietary
Miranda IM Miranda IM project February 6, 2000 Multi-protocol 0.6 Free GPL
Microsoft Messenger for Mac Microsoft ??? Single protocol 6.0.1 Free Proprietary
MySpaceIM MySpace May 09, 2006 Single protocol Template:Latest preview release/MySpaceIM (beta) Free
Adware 		Proprietary
Naim Daniel Reed Oct 05, 1998 Multi-protocol http://naim.n.ml.org/download Free GPL
OpenWengo Wengo 2004 Single protocol 0.99 Free
 GPL
Pandion Dries Staelens, Sebastiaan Deckers Jun 28, 2004 Single protocol 2.5 Free
 Proprietary
Paltalk Jason Katz 1998 Multi-protocol 9.0 Free
 Proprietary
pork Ryan McCabe December 6, 2006 AIM, IRC Gateway 0.99.8.1 Free GPL v2
Proteus Justin Wood, et al. November 2001 Multi-protocol 4.15b6 Free GPL
Psi Justin Karneges 2001 Single protocol 0.10 Free GPL
psyced psyced.org Project 1997 IRC Gateway, Multi-protocol 0.99 Free GPL
Qnext June 28, 2004 Multi-protocol 2.3.0.74 Free Proprietary
QQ Tencent February, 1999 Single protocol 2006 Beta1 Free
Adware 		Proprietary
SIM SIM project ? Multi-protocol 0.9.4.1 Free GPL
Skype Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis / eBay 2003 Single protocol
Windows, UWP15.119.201.0 / 6 May 2024; 2 months ago (2024-05-06)[1]
Windows, desktop8.119.0.201 / 6 May 2024; 2 months ago (2024-05-06)[1]
macOS8.119.0.201 / 6 May 2024; 2 months ago (2024-05-06)[1]
Linux8.119.0.201 / 6 May 2024; 2 months ago (2024-05-06)[1]
Android8.119.0.202 / 6 May 2024; 2 months ago (2024-05-06)[2]
iOS8.119.0.201 / 6 May 2024; 2 months ago (2024-05-06)[3] (iPhone and iPad)
 Free Proprietary
talk Kipp Hickman 1982 Single protocol 1.7 (BSD version) Free BSD
Tkabber Alexey Shchepin 2003 Single protocol 0.9.9 Free GPL
Trillian Cerulean Studios July 1, 2000 Multi-protocol 3.1 Free Proprietary
Trillian Pro Cerulean Studios September 10, 2002 Multi-protocol 3.1 $25 Proprietary
Trillian Astra Cerulean Studios Alpha Multi-protocol ? ? Proprietary
Windows Live Messenger Microsoft July, 1999 Dual protocol 8.0.812 (Windows XP/Vista) Free
Adware 		Proprietary
Windows Messenger Microsoft ? ? 5.1.0701 (Windows XP SP2) Free Proprietary
Xfire Xfire.inc 2004 Single protocol 1.38 Free
Adware 		Proprietary
Yahoo! Messenger Yahoo! June 21, 1999 Dual protocol 8.1.0.209 (Win)
2.5.3 (Mac) 		Free
Adware 		Proprietary
YSM rad2k 2001 Single protocol 2.9.6 Free GPL
Zephyr Project Athena 1987 Single protocol 2.0 Free MIT
Author / Creator First public release date Type Latest stable version Cost (USD) Software license

Operating system support

The operating systems the clients can run on without emulation or compatibility layers.

Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix Windows Mobile BlackBerry Other
Adium No Yes No No No ? ?
Agile Messenger No No No No No Yes ?
AIM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
aMSN Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
BitlBee Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
BitWise IM Yes Yes Yes No No ? ?
Centericq Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Coccinella Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Exodus Yes No No No No ? ?
Fire No Yes No No No ? ?
Gaim Yes Yes 1 Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Gajim Yes Yes 1 Yes Yes Yes ? ?
GCN Yes No No No No ? ?
GOIM Yes Yes Yes No No ? ?
Goofey6 No Yes7 Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Google Talk (standalone) Yes No No No No ? Yes
Google Talk (Gmail) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
iChat No Yes No No No ? ?
ICQ Yes Yes No No No Yes ?
IM+ No No No No No Yes Yes Symbian S60, UIQ, J2ME, Palm OS, BREW, i-mode
IM2 Yes No No No No ? ?
IMVU Yes No No No No ? ?
Instan-t Yes No No No No ? ?
Interaction Chat Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
imeem Yes Yes No No No ? ?
JMSN Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Kadu No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Kopete Not yet No Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Licq No No Yes Yes Yes ? ?
MECA Messenger Yes No No No No ? ?
meebo Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Meetro Yes Yes No No No ? ?
Mercury Messenger Yes Yes Yes Yes (Unofficially, Java) Yes (Unofficially, Java) ? ?
mICQ Yes 2 Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Miranda IM Yes No Yes No No ? ?
Microsoft Messenger for Mac No 3 Yes No 3 No 3 No 3 ? ?
MindSpring Yes No No No No ? ?
MySpaceIM Yes No No No No ? ?
Naim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
OpenWengo Yes Yes 5 Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Pandion Yes No No No No ? ?
Paltalk Yes No No No No ? ?
pork No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Proteus No Yes No No No ? ?
Psi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
psyced Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Qnext Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
QQ Yes No No No No ? ?
SIM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Skype Yes Yes Yes No No Yes ?
talk Yes 4 Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Tkabber Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Trillian Yes No No No No ? ?
Trillian Pro Yes No No No No ? ?
Trillian Astra Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Windows Live Messenger Yes No No No No Yes ?
Windows Messenger Yes No No No No ? ?
Yahoo! Messenger Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
YSM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Zephyr Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ?
Windows Mac OS X Linux BSD Unix Windows Mobile BlackBerry

Note 1: The Mac OS X version must be self compiled, and will only run with an X server and GTK+ installed.

Note 2: Requires ANSI terminal. See e.g. Windows ANSI driver problem on how to load ANSI.SYS.

Note 3: MSN Web Messenger can be used with a compatible browser and valid Microsoft Passport Network account.

Note 4: Numerous talk/ytalk clients exist for Win32; others are available under the Cygwin environment.

Note 5: Only available in the upcoming version OpenWengo-ng already available through Subversion.

Note 6: Generally only available as source, not as a ready-to-install binary.

Note 7: Client will only work on OS X within a Unix terminal session (Terminal.app, Xterm, iTerm, or similar.)

Protocol support

Information on the instant messaging protocols that each client supports.

AIM ICQ Windows Live Messenger (previously MSN Messenger) Yahoo! Messenger IRC XMPP (Google Talk and many other XMPP compatible services) Bonjour
(formerly Rendezvous) 		Novell GroupWise Messenger Lotus Sametime Gadu-Gadu Skype QQ Others
Adium Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes ? 10 Yes Yes Yes No No Yahoo! Japan, .Mac, Zephyr
Agile Messenger Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? No No No No No on request Wireless Village (on request)
AIM Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No
aMSN No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No
BitlBee Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No
BitWise IM No No No No No No No No No No No No BitWise IM
Centericq Partial 6 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? ? Yes No No ?
Coccinella Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Yes No No No Partial 3 No No Partial 3
Exodus No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Fire Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 10 No No No No No No
gaim Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 10 Yes With plugin 1 Yes No Yes SILC, Zephyr, XFire, OTR (with plugin)
Gajim Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Yes No No No Partial 3 No No No
GCN Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Yes No No No Partial 3 No No GCN
GOIM No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Google Talk No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
iChat Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes ? ? No No No No
ICQ Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No
IM+ Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes No Yes No LCS, Oracle IM, Reuters
IM2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No ?
imeem Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No ?
IMVITE Yes 8 Yes 8 Yes Yes No No No No No No No No ?
IMVU Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No IMVU
Instan-t Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No Instan-t network
Interaction Chat No No No No No No No No No No No No No
JMSN No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No
Kadu No No No No No No No No No Yes No No No
Kopete Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Partial 4 No ?
Licq Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No ?
MECA Messenger Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No
meebo Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No
Meetro Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
Mercury Messenger Partial 3 Partial 3 Yes Partial 3 Partial 3 Yes No No No Partial 3 No No No
mICQ Partial Yes No No No Partial No No No No No No No
MindSpring No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Miranda IM Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Partial 4 Yes Tlen, LAN 5, Chat 5
Microsoft Messenger for Mac No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No
Paltalk Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No No No
Pandion No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No
pork Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No No
Psi Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Yes No No No Partial 3 No No No
Proteus Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Partial 9 No Yes Yes No No Yahoo! Japan
psyced Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Yes Yes No No No Partial 3 No No PSYC, TELNET, SMTP, HTTP, WAP
Qnext Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No Qnext
QQ No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No
SIM Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No No No LiveJournal
Skype No No No No No No No No No No Yes No ?
talk No No No No No No No No No No No No ntalk, ytalk
Tkabber Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Partial 3 Yes No No No Partial 3 No No No
Trillian Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No No No No No
Trillian Pro Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? 10 Yes Yes With plugin 1 With plugin 11 With plugin 1 No
Windows Live Messenger No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
Windows Messenger No No Yes No No No No No No No No No SIP, EIM
Yahoo! Messenger No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No
YSM No Yes No No No No No No No No No No ?
Zephyr No No No No No No No No No No No No Zephyr
AIM ICQ Windows Live Messenger (previously MSN Messenger) Yahoo! Messenger IRC XMPP (Google Talk and many other XMPP compatible services) Bonjour
(formerly Rendezvous) 		Novell GroupWise Messenger Lotus Sametime Gadu-Gadu Skype QQ Others

Note 1: Plugin available [1]

Note 2: Plugin available

Note 3: Interoperability with proprietary protocols can be achieved using server-side gateways (so-called transports) in Jabber.

Note 4: Plugin available, but requires installed and running Skype.

Note 5: LAN and chat protocols supported for Miranda include NetSend, WinPopup, Novell Netware NCP, BattleNet, Vypress Chat, Quick Chat, and Walla Chat.

Note 6: Uses the AIM TOC2 protocol, which has fewer features than the Oscar protocol the official client uses. An Oscar plugin is available, but is still in early development.

Note 7: Plugin available [2]

Note 8: Can only enter one ICQ/AOL IM account, so users who have both an ICQ number and an AOL IM account name, can't use both.

Note 9: Text-based messaging only; does not support Bonjour/iChat's audio IM functionality.

Note 10: Probably text-based messaging only, without support for Bonjour/iChat's audio IM functionality.

Note 11: Plug-in available, but requires Skype to be installed and running.

Features

Information on what features each of the clients support.

Toolkits or SDKs Encryption File transfer Graphical smileys Unicode (UTF-8) Built-in games Themes/skins Plugin system 1 Third-party add-ons 2 Scripting Message Logging Voice Messaging Voice Mail Webcam Support Offline Messaging
Adium Cocoa Yes 11 Partial Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? No ?
Agile Messenger ? ? Partial Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? Yes
AIM W32 Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
aMSN Tcl/Tk ? Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 17 ? Yes Yes
BitlBee n/a No No No ? No No No No ? ? ? ? No ?
BitWise IM W32, GTK2, Carbon Yes 7 Yes No ? Yes Yes No No ? Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Centericq ncurses Partial 9 Partial No ? No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? No Yes
Coccinella Tcl/Tk Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes ? No Yes
Exodus W32 No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No ? ? ? ? No Yes
Fire Cocoa Yes 12 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Gaim GTK2 With plugin 8 Partial Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? No Partial
Gajim GTK2 Yes 9 Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes No ? No Yes
GCN W32 Yes 4 Yes Yes ? Yes Partial No Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
GOIM Java/SWT Yes No Yes Yes No Partial Yes No No No No ? No Yes
Google Talk W32 No Yes Partial Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Template:Third-party plugin Yes
iChat Cocoa Yes Yes Yes ? No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
ICQ W32 No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes No Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
IM+ Depends on version Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Depends on version No ? Yes No No No Yes
IM2 W32 Yes 4 Partial Yes ? No Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
imeem ? No Partial Yes ? No No No No ? Yes ? ? ? ?
IMVU ? ? No Yes Yes Partial Yes No Yes 13 No Yes 14 No ? No Yes
Instan-t W32 Yes Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ?
JMSN Java ? Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Kadu Qt Yes Yes Yes ? No Partial Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? No No
Kopete Qt/KDE Yes 9 Partial Yes Partial No Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Licq Qt Yes 5 Yes Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ?
MECA Messenger ? ? Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes No No No Yes ? ? ? ?
Meetro ? ? Yes ? ? No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
Mercury Messenger Swing Yes 4 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No ? Yes Yes
mICQ line based Yes 5 Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes No ? No Yes
Miranda IM W32 Yes 10 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial 15 ? Partial15 Yes
Microsoft Messenger for Mac Carbon No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No ? No Yes
OpenWengo Qt No No Yes Yes No Yes No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
Paltalk n/a Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
Pandion ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? No Yes
pork ncurses ? Yes No ? ? No No No No Yes Yes ? No ?
Proteus Cocoa ? Partial Yes ? No Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Psi KDE/Qt Yes 9 Yes Yes Yes No Partial (Iconsets only) No No No Yes No ? No Yes
psyced n/a Yes No No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? No ?
Qnext Swing Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? Yes ?
QQ W32 No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes ? Yes Yes ? ? ?
SIM Qt/KDE Yes 5 6 Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Skype Qt/KDE, W32 Yes (Skype-to-Skype) Yes Yes Partial Yes No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes (Skype-to-Skype) ? Yes (Skype-to-Skype) No
talk curses No No No No No No No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
Tkabber Tcl/Tk Yes 9 Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? No ? No Yes
Trillian Basic 3.0 W32 Yes Yes Yes Partial No Yes No Yes ? Yes ? ? No ?
Trillian Pro 3.0 W32 Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes Yes Yes Yes Partial Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Windows Live Messenger

formerly MSN Messenger

W32 No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes
Windows Messenger W32 No Yes Yes Yes No No Partial No ? No Yes ? Yes ?
Yahoo! Messenger W32, Cocoa, GTK ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
YSM line based Yes 7 No ? ? ? No No No ? ? ? ? ? ?
Toolkits or SDKs Encryption File transfer Graphical smileys Unicode (UTF-8) Built-in games Themes/skins Plugin system 1 Third-party addons 2 Scripting Message Logging Voice Messaging Voice Mail Webcam Support Offline Messaging

Note 1: Plug-in system to add/expand the default features for the application, or protocol. Such as (but not limited to) Trillian chat client - Plugins

Note 2: Third party add-ons which are usually not approved by the author of the application and are usually standalone. Such as (but not limited to) AOL Instant messenger - Third-party add-ons

Note 4: Proprietary; compatible only to itself.

Note 5: ICQ: SSL-encrypted direct connections; compatible between mICQ, licq and SIM.

Note 6: Any protocol: GPG-encrypted messages.

Note 7: Blowfish-encrypted direct connection; compatible only to itself.

Note 8: Available as a plugin at http://www.cypherpunks.ca/otr/ - the "Off The Record" (OTR) encryption system is open source and thus can in theory be used with any other instant messaging program (e.g. Miranda IM with OTR plugin), though it might be difficult to add support to closed-source clients. Also available as another plugin at http://gaim-encryption.sf.net. This plugin is compatible with Gaim clients only.

Note 9: Compatible with all Jabber clients implementing JEP-0027 (standard Jabber encryption).

Note 10: SecureIM plugin provides 192 bits AES Encryption, compatible only between Miranda clients. Also available "Off The Record" (OTR) plugin at http://addons.miranda-im.org/details.php?action=viewfile&id=2644

Note 11: Encryption is "Off The Record" (OTR) encryption, which is currently supported primarily as a system of plugins.

Note 12: GPG-encypted on a per-message basis. Requires GPG to be installed.

Note 13: While IMVU does not allow add-ons to extend the client, registered accounts can create new content for use inside the simulation.

Note 14: IMVU logs all actions perceived by the client, including actions that do not have a textual result, making the log difficult to use for reading of messages.

Note 15: WebCam Video, a plugin for Miranda IM, allows for video chat between two users of the Miranda IM client through a different method than whichever protocol they may currently use.

Note 16: AES256-encrypted direct connection; compatible only to itself.

Note 17: Only voice clips are fully supported, not the audio conference feature.

Features 2

Handwriting mode
Adium
Agile Messenger
AIM
aMSN Yes
BitlBee
BitWise IM
Centericq
Coccinella
Exodus
Fire
Gaim
Gajim
GCN
GOIM
Goofey6
Google Talk (standalone)
Google Talk (Gmail)
iChat
ICQ
IM+
IM2
IMVU
Instan-t
Interaction Chat
imeem
JMSN
Kadu
Kopete
Licq
MECA Messenger
meebo
Meetro
Mercury Messenger
mICQ
Miranda IM Yes
Microsoft Messenger for Mac
MindSpring
MySpaceIM
Naim
OpenWengo
Pandion
Paltalk
pork
Proteus
Psi
psyced
Qnext
QQ
SIM
Skype
talk
Tkabber
Trillian Yes
Trillian Pro Yes
Windows Live Messenger Yes
Windows Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger
YSM
Zephyr
Handwriting mode

See also

  1. ^ a b c d "Release Notes for Skype for Windows, Mac and Linux". Skype Support.
  2. ^ "Release Notes for Skype on Mobile". Skype Support.
  3. ^ "Skype for iPhone". App Store. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
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