BeeJiveIM 2.0 for iPhone

BeejiveIM is an iPhone application that, as the name implies is an instant messaging client. The app offers support for multiple accounts as well as multiple platforms, such as AIM, MySpace, Gmail’s talk service, MSN, etc. All the major IM clients are covered and accessible from one app. It also offers a nice use of the accelerometer by giving you a widescreen layout with access to the larger keyboard found in Apple’s own Safari landscape view, a nice addition especially for those with larger or less dextrous fingers. A final, and completely novel feature, is part of the reason for the price of the app – $15.99 – and this is that it allows you to receive IMs even after closing the app in an interesting workaround of Apple’s security policy of not letting apps run in the background.



BeejiveIM does not run in the background, and thus does not break Apple’s policies – rather, upon opening the app you log into one of the company’s servers and upon closing the app remain logged in to the server (for a period of time that you can decide upon ranging from 10 minutes to an 24 hours, or even turn off, via the settings menu). Then, when you receive an IM while the app is closed, Beejive sends an email to your phone alerting you of the text of the IM. This approach is novel and especially useful for those iPhone users who subscribe to MobileMe and have push email turned on, but there is also an interesting workaround if you don’t have push email enabled, but more on that later.



As a chat client, BeeJiveIM works quite well The initial setup pains are minimal and it is easy to get to IMing fairly quickly after “opening the box.” The IM interface is nice, and defaults upon launch to your buddy list showing online and offline buddies (though you can turn off the show offline buddies, again via settings).

Once you begin chatting, you can access the chats page via the icon on the bottom of the screen. This takes you to a list of active chats you have, allowing ease of choosing which chat to continue (chats are saved from prior sessions but can be erased using the edit button at the top of the screen). Once you get to the actual chat conversation, the UI is set up to resemble iChat or the iPhone’s text messaging conversations. A nice feature that is not immediately noticeable is a fast chat switching mechanism activated by tapping on the name of the buddy you are chatting with (at the top of the screen). When yo do so, a menu drops down that shows the buddy pictures of all of your active chat buddies. Tapping on the icon switches to that buddy’s conversation. Also available from this menu is a trash icon allowing you to end the chat, an email icon which allows you to email the chat log, a camera icon for inserting a picture from the iPhone’s album (or allowing you to take a picture right there) into the chat, and a microphone icon.

The microphone icon provides an interesting feature offered by BeejiveIM which is the ability to record “voice chats” and send them to your buddy. Essentially you use the iPhone’s microphone (or headphone microphone for iPod Touch users) to record a voice note that is saved and then sent via the chat. At first glance this might seem nice but strange until you consider the uses in terms of hands-free chatting Granted, you still have to read the response (unless your buddy also uses BeejiveIM) so it’s probably not best for chatting and driving, but it’s a novel feature.

Now, to return to the “logged off im” feature in detail: this is part of what makes BeeJiveIM a unique app, but also adds significantly to its price. Granted, the price is one-time (rather than some sort of subscription) and the justification of the price makes sense– they do need to pay for their server space and traffic, but is it worth it? This is a question that will probably rely on your amount of iPhone/iPod Touch-based IMing. If you IM frequently and like to change apps then this feature could very well be a life/headache-saver since you will not miss any conversations or IMs while you do so. Also worth mentioning is you can use this feature while your iPhone is screenlocked and effectively logged out of the app, so another potential use is that of battery-saver; you won’t need to keep your device unlocked and on in order to keep up with IMs.

But what if you don’t have a MobileMe subscription or don’t want to have push email active? Here’s the simple workaround: you can receive the IM notifications as email via text message. If you enter your email address as yournumber@txt.att.net the email message will arrive in the form of a text message. (I should mention that your number should have no dashes.



For example: 123456789@txt.att.net).

In the end, the question of price will probably return to haunt this app, as most people will likely question the worth of spending substantially more on an IM app, especially since most are free and those that are not only cost $1-2. However, if you IM frequently, and especially if you find yourself needing to change apps often, then BeejiveIM’s onetime fee suddenly seems worth it, especially if you want an easy to use and multi-platform-integrated IM client.