Meebo for iPhone for iOS

Fresh out the gate, Meebo is one of the better free iPhone apps for multinetwork instant messaging, but that's only half a compliment. Not that there isn't a lot to like about it. Its buddy lists show a search bar (though it should remain static as you scroll), it has thumbnail profile pictures, and an icon of the IM network your pal is on. There's also a chat screen to help manage open conversations. If the keyboard is locked away, you can swipe to jump among your open chats. Meebo's support of emoticon is marred only by the inability to let a message fly after inserting a smiley--you have to return to the keyboard view first. While you can manage account data from the app interface, you can't change your Meebo.com profile or photo, and important settings regarding sounds and chat preferences are stored in the iPhone's Setting menu instead of on the app.

Push notification is another great chat feature you can enable with Meebo on iPhone. However, since we found the app constantly striving to reconnect to Meebo's servers during our all-day testing, the message alerts were helpful, but not reliable. As far as free multinetwork instant messager goes, Meebo turns in an easy-to-use app that gets you chatting.