We have yet another option available in the App Store in terms of an instant messaging client for the iPhone. The latest is eBuddy and it comes with two good points — first being that it has support for Push Notifications and the second is that it is free.
The eBuddy app will work with MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, GTalk, Facebook as well as ICQ. Personally, I am not a regular IM user, so some of the other available apps may be a little better in terms of features, however after a little use of eBuddy I will say that I am pleased.
The setup process took just a minute or so, the first time you launch the app you have to create an eBuddy account which was really just a matter of entering a username, email address and password. They also wanted to know whether you were male or female along with your age. Annoying, but not all that bad to have a decent and free IM app.
After that, you can then login to any or all of you IM accounts, which for me was GTalk and Facebook. Nothing crazy here, just enter your username and passcode. You can also choose whether or not to have these accounts login automatically, which brings me to the one slightly disappointing part of this app.
According to the settings, “When exiting eBuddy” you have the option to remain logged in for either 5, 10 or 30 minutes, which means that after that time is up your Push Notifications are going to stop.
Still, that aside, the app works well and is free, so who am I to complain.
Additionally, eBuddy will work with the iPhone or iPod touch running OS 2.0 or later, however the Push support requires OS 3.0.


July 9th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
you made my day with this news… thanks
July 13th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I read this and immediately downloaded the app. I created an account and tested it. Do you know what it does?!?
The Push Notification sends you a message that essentially says: You have a received a new message in the eBuddy App. YOU HAVE TO OPEN THE APP TO READ THE MESSAGE.
That’s a non-starter for me. I deleted the app immediately. Forcing me to open the app to read the message defeats the purpose of message Push Notifications.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
@ Jeff J
Thanks! You have summed up my annoyance with Push Notifications very nicely.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
gmn ya.?cara ny cri teman k ebuddy
November 15th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
try the im+ lite app, thats free, allows you to talk on many different accounts and the push notifications show the message.