ViberViber, or Rakuten Viber, is a cross-platform voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging (IM) software application owned by Japanese multinational company Rakuten, provided as freeware for the Google Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS and Linux platforms. Users are registered and identified through a cellular telephone number, although the service is accessible on desktop platforms without needing mobile connectivity.
Presence informationIn computer and telecommunications networks, presence information is a status indicator that conveys ability and willingness of a potential communication partner—for example a user—to communicate. A user's client provides presence information (presence state) via a network connection to a presence service, which is stored in what constitutes his personal availability record (called a presentity) and can be made available for distribution to other users (called watchers) to convey their availability for communication.
Signal (software)Signal is an encrypted messaging service for instant messaging, voice, and video calls. The instant messaging function includes sending text, voice notes, , videos, and . Communication may be one-to-one between users, or for group messaging. The application uses a centralized computing architecture, and is cross-platform software. It is developed by the non-profit Signal Foundation and its subsidiary, Signal Messenger LLC. Signal's software is free and open-source. Its mobile clients, desktop client and server are all published under the AGPL-3.
Comparison of VoIP softwareThis is a comparison of voice over IP (VoIP) software used to conduct telephone-like voice conversations across Internet Protocol (IP) based networks. For residential markets, voice over IP phone service is often cheaper than traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) service and can remove geographic restrictions to telephone numbers, e.g., have a PSTN phone number in a New York area code ring in Tokyo. For businesses, VoIP obviates separate voice and data pipelines, channelling both types of traffic through the IP network while giving the telephony user a range of advanced abilities.
WhatsAppWhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is a freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by United States tech conglomerate Meta Platforms. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices, and can be accessed from computers. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up.
IMessageiMessage is an instant messaging service developed by Apple Inc. and launched in 2011. iMessage functions exclusively on Apple platforms: macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS. Core features of iMessage, available on all supported platforms, include sending text messages, images, videos, and documents; getting delivery and read statuses (read receipts); and end-to-end encryption so only the sender and recipient can read the messages, and no one else, including Apple itself, can read them.
Yahoo! MessengerYahoo! Messenger (sometimes abbreviated Y!M) was an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger was provided free of charge and could be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo ID" which also allowed access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail. The service also offered VoIP, file transfers, webcam hosting, a text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories. Yahoo! Messenger dates back to Yahoo! Chat, which was a public chat room service.
DiscordDiscord is an instant messaging and VoIP social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers". A server is a collection of persistent chat rooms and voice channels which can be accessed via invite links. Discord runs on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, and in web browsers. , the service has over 350 million registered users and over 150 million monthly active users.
Pidgin (software)Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a free and open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple that has support for many instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to simultaneously log in to various services from a single application, with a single interface for both popular and obsolete protocols (from AIM (software) to Discord), thus avoiding the hassle of having to deal with a new software for each device and protocol. the number of Pidgin users was estimated to be over three million.
Telegram (software)Telegram Messenger is a globally accessible freemium, encrypted, cloud-based and centralized instant messaging (IM) service. The application also provides optional end-to-end encrypted chats (popularly known as "secret chats") and video calling, VoIP, file sharing and several other features. Telegram was first launched for iOS on 14 August 2013 and Android on 20 October 2013. The servers of Telegram are distributed worldwide with five data centers in different parts of the world to decrease data load, while the operational center is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.