Apple Releases Public Beta of New Messages App for OS X

[LukeHarrison]

And it doesn't work on 10.6 - GRR!

[shenfrey]

Good. I never got to use ichat as i didnt know anyone with a mac, this is good

[chevy57]

FaceTime over 3G for iPhone? not request Jailbreaking

[samcraig]

I wonder if they'll fix the bug that has allowed people to get other peoples' iMessages because there's a glitch in how the accounts are registered/not de-registered on Apple's servers.

Meaning - you sell your laptop and now other people get your iMessages...

[skymaXimus]

Requires 10.7.3. Doh. Must download 1.3 gig file to update my message app.

[unconncious]

Originally Posted by Kilamite

Download link unavailable at the moment.

Going to be great being able to reply to messages from my Mac. Hope Apple can sort out the whole SMS mess too though, since right now, they won't show up on the iPad or Mac (if a person replies to an iMessage but it comes in via SMS).

Things are moving fast in Cupertino now and it's nice to see the Mac getting some love. I'm sure this is all part of Steve Jobs roadmap.

You need to go to settings > messages > receive at> caller ID > and choose your apple ID instead of your phone number as the caller ID

This will fix the problem

[igazza]

Originally Posted by Kilamite

iChat is at version 6.0.1.

Messages is a revamped iChat.

Yeah, I almost forgot ichat existed

[Yuppi]

Good thing is that Facebook still has their jabba service running
Works about as 'reliable' as with the other audium implementation. Just use [username]@chat.facebook.com
where [username] is the alias that you registered for your facebook account.

[RedRallyeZ]

IN LOVE.

no longer have to hide my phone in my crotch to text during class.

"oh I'm sorry professor, Im just taking notes" commence to flirt with my GF.

[sarabear0080]

how can i download this?

[kemo]

Originally Posted by LukeHarrison

And it doesn't work on 10.6 - GRR!

ofcourse its not! It requires iCloud Well, I had to try it, too. Im going to leave SL, Lion dissapointed me at all, well but I would give a try to Mountain Lion, any chance to get hands on it? Or at least can any1 confirm that it uses Mission Control as well and has no Expose like SL has? Thanks!

[thatisme]

it works well for me so far... I like the idea of getting my messages on my phone and my computer.

[nspindel]

How about finally putting out an iBooks reader for OSX?? Kind of ridiculous that I can't read the Steve Jobs biography on my Mac...

[I Am Designer™]

I've just set this up no my MBA and a little surprised to find that it didn't pull down all of my current iMessages or at least try and carry out a sync of some sort.

Although iMessages is kludgy at the best of times (some messages don't appear on iPhone and iPad... so conversations are broken). I would much prefer it if iCloud simply synced all messages regardless of whether they were sent as text or iMessage. And if you're on a non cellular device )i.e. wifi only iPad or iTouch) you can only reply if the device actually detects the respondent has iMessage / this new messenger app.

[spazzcat]

Originally Posted by miles01110

Do people really use stand-alone instant messaging programs still?

I would for iMessage.

[CrzyCanuck72]

really disappointed this doesn't work on 10.6. I will not upgrade to 10.7 for various reasons (in a nutshell, I view Lion as a vastly inferior OS to Snow Leopard), and there's no technical reason this couldn't work on 10.6.

[BillyBobBongo]

Originally Posted by I Am Designer™

I've just set this up no my MBA and a little surprised to find that it didn't pull down all of my current iMessages or at least try and carry out a sync of some sort

It is only a Beta, perhaps this will occur later. I can't imagine it's hard to send a query to my iPhone to see what's on it.

[ihonda]

when i send my gf a message it starts a new convo on her phone.. its not merging convos from my iphone and mac togther.

[Steelgrave]

Originally Posted by PracticalMac

Still not supporting microsoft messenger ....


And ICQ, for the holdouts (even just text)

Well lack of MSN support will keep Adium going for at least a couple more years...

Seriously Apple if they can add msn support why can't you?

[AndrewClarke]

Originally Posted by Silentwave

iChat in 10.7.3 is 6.0.1, so sounds like they may have added the protocols in as a point release and changed the name.

This is probably what they've done, and hopefully they'll make this clear as time goes on. Right now, we have all these messaging clients from Apple:

Messages/iOS
Messages/OS X
iChat
FaceTime/iOS
FaceTime/OS X

You can video chat on iChat or FaceTime. FaceTime MAY work, assuming you know which of the many potential iCloud addresses your recipient may be using on which device. The Messages iOS app seems to randomly decide to send messages people send me to my iPad and not my iPhone, or sometimes both.

It's all a huge mess. I really hope that this new Messages app is a major step towards just tying all this into one interface that gets a message or video chat to me, without me having to delve into arcane technical details. The current situation does not "just work".

[Michaelgtrusa]

Originally Posted by mrblack927

Can you upload it somewhere for the rest of us?

It's free. The site should be up.

[screammacabre]

Would anyone who has downloaded it report if iChat theater or Desktop sharing still works with iMessage?

[ramz003]

Works here and sync with iphone.

make sure to enter your me addy on iphone under message so it can be delivered at two places....

[bennettave]

How does the new OSX Message app deal with multiple users (two different iPhones) that use the same account? Would you have to use the email address on the computer, and phone numbers on each phone?

[parkds]

Does anyone know if you can still do screen sharing and file transfers with the new Messages application?