Cross platform equivalent of iMessages

spudbynight · 17 Dec 2013 at 12:39

My wife and I have a setup at home that crosses OSX,iOS and Windows.

I have an iMac that I spend 50% of the time in Windows and 50% in OSX.

We both have iPhones. My wife has an iPad and a Windows laptop.

iMessages is great for me to send messages to her iPhone from my iMac. Unfortunately when I am in Windows I can't use it and can only send from my iPhone.

Is there a solid cross platform equivalent that I can use?

randal · 17 Dec 2013 at 12:43

Whatsapp has a Windows client, and I think an OSX client to compliment their mobile offerings.

Caged · 17 Dec 2013 at 17:56

WhatsApp has a Windows Phone client, there are no desktop clients. The closest you can get is Google Hangouts or Facebook Messenger, but I wouldn't say they are particularly solid.

Skyboat · 17 Dec 2013 at 20:54

Facebook Messenger has had some great updates recently. Works very well, even for non-Facebook users.

Hangouts works too but is a little rough around on the edges on iOS still I've found.

Scottland · 17 Dec 2013 at 21:29

Facebook is ok, the messenger works quite well. But it really needs a better web "app" rather than having to use the website which is a bit clunky for me.

I'd say either Facebook or Hangouts are the most platform agnostic.

allosunshine · 21 Dec 2013 at 09:17

You can configure Facebook messenger to work with the Messages app on OSX. LINK

Scottland · 21 Dec 2013 at 15:46

allosunshine said:
You can configure Facebook messenger to work with the Messages app on OSX. LINK

Only works for 'Chat' and not group messaging/conversations I don't think.

allosunshine · 21 Dec 2013 at 20:08

Scottland said:
Only works for 'Chat' and not group messaging/conversations I don't think.

Not sure on that one tbh.

squerble · 22 Dec 2013 at 08:59

Viber has clients on lots of platforms - have you tried that?

Matthew.M · 22 Dec 2013 at 10:56

I use Google Hangouts. The iOS app has had a lot of updates recently and has significantly improved.

squerble · 22 Dec 2013 at 11:19

Matthew.M said:
I use Google Hangouts. The iOS app has had a lot of updates recently and has significantly improved.

Still doesn't use iOS7 style keyboard etc though. :rolleyes:

megakid · 30 Dec 2013 at 13:11

My mum, girlfriend and I were all on iOS so iMessage was perfect. Now we're on iOS (mum), WP8 (gf) and Android (me).

I now use WhatsApp with my gf - works perfectly and plenty of my friends are on there, use this for 98% of my messaging now - and Kik with my mum as she's on an iPad (WhatsApp requires a phone number, Kik does not).