Michal Ždanský If you often use SMS and MMS services, you might want to step up. PingChat! is one of the programs that uses push notifications that are part of iOS and creates a kind of alternative for writing short messages for free.
You may remember the reviewed app WhatsApp, which served an absolutely identical purpose. PingChat! however, it offers a more sophisticated user interface, eliminates the need to have the person in the phone book and brings many additional functions.
When you start the application for the first time, you will first be prompted to create a user account, which must be confirmed by email. In addition to your nickname, you enter your name, phone number, add a photo, and you can also link your account to social networks. Why? It makes it easier to find friends. The application itself can then search your list of friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter and phone book to see if any of your contacts do not already have a PingChat account! But if you know your friend's nickname, just enter it in the appropriate field and once you are authorized, it will appear in your contact list.
The user interface consists of a list of conversations and four buttons at the bottom. These do not work like classic tabs, but call up different menus. The first from the left is the list of contacts, the next is your profile, where you can set a photo, name, but also a status that all your friends will then see. If you don't want to be disturbed, for example, you can make it clear with your status. The third option is to share your ID using social networks or email, and the last option is settings
The interface of the application copies the native SMS application, after clicking on the thread you will see the entire history of the conversation with a field for writing a new message at the bottom. You can then write a new message to the person directly from it or from the list of threads using the icon at the top right, as well as in News. When writing a new message, use the "+" button to select the recipient (there may be more), or you can write the first few letters and the application itself will offer you contacts by whispering.
Of course PingChat! it doesn't just work with plain text. If you click the arrow to the left next to the typing field, you'll see a six-item menu instead of a keyboard. This includes emoticons, adding a photo where you can choose from an album or just take a picture, adding a video, a location (the user will be shown the position on a Google map), an audio recording that you can record, and finally sending a contact.
The application is cross-platform, so you can communicate in this way with everyone who owns an iPhone or a phone with the operating system Android or Blackberry OS. Especially if you text someone very often, this can save you a lot of money on SMS each month (provided you have a data plan). The delivery of messages is extremely reliable, moreover, you will find out about the delivery/sending status thanks to a small letter in each conversation bubble (S – sent, R – received). So you don't have to worry about an important message not reaching your friend or girlfriend without your knowledge. As already mentioned, the application uses push notifications, so you will learn about each new message in the same way as about a new SMS, i.e. with the appropriate sound and notification on the display.
Although the app previously used a peculiar model where it displayed advertising that you could opt out of for a period of time by downloading another featured app, PingChat is now! offered as a free app without any annoying ads. Apple put a stop to the aforementioned model, as it basically violated the conditions set by the Guidelines for iOS applications.
PingChat! I've been using it for a few months now and I'm completely happy with this app, it's largely replaced the use of SMS for me, at least with the people I text more often. Of course, the application cannot replace SMS completely, but that is not its purpose. You can find it for free in the App Store, so you don't have to be afraid to at least try it.
PingChat! - free of charge
The KIK application suited me for this.
Exactly. I don't want to start any offensive, I'm just wondering if this app is really better than KIK or in what? Does it make sense to convince my 20 or so friends, with whom I actively write on KIKU, to switch to PingChat? I would consider, for example, a faster response, the possibility of setting the "status" (e.g. Don`t disturb), etc...
I'm afraid that PingChat just wants to ride on the success of others who have been here before.
I'll be happy to answer... Kik is not multi-platform, BB pulled it from their App World more or less without explanation. Being Apple, there's a solid hype around it (Kik actually offered almost the same thing as BB Messenger, but it could also communicate between platforms), but this just fizzled out…
but for it to work and be free, the recipient also needs to have this application, right?
Exactly
Does the image or location transfer work for you on the vodafone network? When I try to send it, it just says "An interruption occurred during the upload. Please try again.” …it works normally on wifi :(
WhatsApp Messenger is FREE today! (otherwise €0,99) according to half the world, the best messenger client for iPhone... http://itunes.apple.com/it/app/whatsapp-messenger/id310633997?mt=8&affId=1823152&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Mainly, PingChat has a limited length of one message, so a longer message must be broken up into pieces. Brilliant nonsense :-D