Apple has yet to release any official chat client for the iPhone. The closest to chatting is SMS and was probably AT&T’s choosing, not Apple’s but that isn’t to say a native App can’t fill in the IM void. Two new Apps were unloosed, a native IM and IRC client.

TUAW reports “Arminius” and “Pogi” have created an IM App (Apollo IM) and an IRC App (iRCm). Mind you these Apps although native are not distributed through Apple but require a jail broken iPhone and Installer.app.

I took a peek at Apollo IM and although it’s at V.-1 (yes, version negative 1, even though it’s a Beta I got a chuckle out of that) it still has a towering, lengthy way to go. I couldn’t even get the App to sign onto my AIM screen name and .Mac was a no go. However there have been those luckier than me and I am thrilled the messaging space is starting to grow on the iPhone.

IRCm on the other hand (which I have not tried) is purely an IRC App quite similar to Apollo IM. Besides common interface subtleties both Apps allow self-moving updating as in they phone home and download the newest version.


This might not seem so significant now but it will be, right now most Apps are tied to Installer.app (which you can grab both from) for updates and distribtution. Giving native Apps as much dependency as possible will improve the user experience without too many hassles.

TUAW has a web gallery of both Apps.

Via: Digg

Original post by Chris