iMessage Alternatives
iMessage is described as 'Love iMessage on your iPhone? You'll love it on your Mac, too. Messages lets you send unlimited messages to anyone on a Mac, iOS device, or Apple Watch' and is a instant messenger in the social & communications category. There are more than 25 alternatives to iMessage for a variety of platforms, including Android, Android Tablet, iPhone, Windows and Online / Web-based. The best alternative is Signal, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like iMessage are Skype, Pidgin, Wire and Conversations.
iMessage alternatives are mainly Instant Messengers but may also be Group Chat Apps or Video Calling Apps. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of iMessage.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
Signal is a messaging app with an unexpected focus on privacy, combined with all the features expected from a modern IM app. Signal has received a lot of praise from all around the world for its security and privacy-respecting technologies.
Signal vs iMessage opinions
It is one of the best security and privacy messaging apps available. And has an easy incredible design
UltraProgrammerIt works cross platform, is free, open source, and end to end encrypted
jamiegrayit's safe, secure, cross platform
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Blackberry
- Chrome OS
- Windows S
- Android Tablet
- BSD
- Windows Phone
- iPad
- Android Wear
- PortableApps.com
Skype is the most popular free voice-over IP and instant messaging service globally. It allows users to text, video and voice call over the internet. Users can also call landlines and mobiles at competitive rates using Skype credit, premium accounts and subscriptions.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- BSD
- PortableApps.com
- Xfce
Pidgin is an easy to use, multi-protocol chat client client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, XMPP, and more chat networks all at once. It has built-in support for NSS, offering client-to-server message encryption for protocols that support it.
- Free Personal • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
- Self-Hosted
- F-Droid
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
Wire is the most secure collaboration platform featuring messenger, voice, video, conference calls, file-sharing, and external collaboration –all protected by the most secure end-to-end-encryption.
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
Conversations is a privacy focused, open source XMPP Texting [Jabber] client for Android 4.0+ smart phones with wife-approved easy encryption [OTR, OMEMO, or GPG].
- Free • Proprietary
- Windows
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Blackberry
- Windows S
- Android Tablet
- Windows Phone
- iPad
- Apple Watch
- Android Wear
Facebook Messenger is a faster way to message. Reach friends right on their phones, get and send messages fast, message everyone at once and more.
- Free • Open Source
- Android
- Android Tablet
- F-Droid
QKSMS brings a refreshingly beautiful and responsive Material Design touch to the stale state of text messaging.
Discontinued
Appears to be abandoned; the developer hasn't updated it since October '21. Recent Android updates break this app on some devices.
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Blackberry
- iPad
Trillian is an instant messaging app that works on phones, tablets, and desktops while keeping your chats neatly synchronized between all of them! We think conversation should be easily shared between all of your devices, not trapped as text messages on your phone.
Adium is a free and open source instant messaging application for Mac OS X, written using Mac OS Xs Cocoa API, released under the GNU GPL and developed by the Adium team.
Open source Jabber (XMPP) client with multi-account support, clean and simple interface. Being both free (as in freedom!) and ad-free, Xabber is designed to be the best Jabber client for Android .
Discontinued
The project seems no longer developed since 2019. Last version, 2.6.6, released in October 2019, can be still downloaded from F-Droid, it's no longer available on Google Play Store
