When Apple announced iMessage for iOS 5 last summer we were excited to finally have a universal messaging app that sought to free our cellphones from the slavery of wireless carrier texting plans. Today with the announcement of Messages for OS X it looks like Apple is serious about creating a messaging service that supplants texting and chat services by providing a one size fits all solution that works well on every screen. The new Messages app is pretty awesome and it’s a needed step forward that finally unifies iChat, iMessage, and Facetime, but it is not without its flaws.
For instance: Emjoi are immensely popular with iPhone users, but OS X Message can’t send emoji. Instead of emoji, Messages has 28 different emoticons, but if you send an emoticon to an iPhone they don’t get the little picture, they just see “:-)” instead of a smiley face image. But if an iOS user sends an emoji to a Messages user the Messages user can see the Emoji. It’s kind of weird how that works out and Apple should just scrap the emoticons and just use Emoji on both Messages and iMessages.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion comes with a new feature that brings a Notification Center to the Mac which is awesome for the new Messages app. Rather than fumbling through apps to view the most recent messages, users can just open the Notification Center to see their unread messages. It works great, except there seems to be a problem with the alert system: sometimes it shows a pop-up of new messages, sometimes it doesn’t. Another annoyance with the Notification Center is that clicking on a particular message doesn’t instantly bring up Messages. In iOS a user can simply slide their finger across an iMessage in the Notification Center and it brings up the Message app. We’d like to see that same type of functionality make it to the final version of Messages, but seems how this is just Beta we won’t complain too loudly.
Messages also includes the ability to FaceTime with contacts. Simply click the FaceTime button in the upper-right hand corner of a chat conversation and the FaceTime app will launch and start a new video feed with your friend. A couple other nice features about Messages is the ability to send files to other users, set auto-reply messages, and change notification sounds and backgrounds like users are used to doing in iChat. Chat transcripts are saved to the iChats folder, but if you close out a conversation thread and then start a new one with the same person the previous transcript isn’t automatically loaded into the thread to make it appear seamless a la Facebook Chat.
Overall, OS X Messages looks to be a very promising app. Apple has managed to combine iChat, iMessage, and FaceTime into one easy to use app that connects users anywhere in the world no matter what type of Apple device they’re using. There are quite a few bugs and inconsistencies that need to be worked out before the “beta” tag can be removed from the app, but once those fixes are made we think Apple’s Messages platform will be the future of chatting.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
20 responses to “OS X Messages Is The Future Of Chat, But Still Kinda Buggy [Hands-On]”
I’m not happy with the fact that you still can’t receive iMessage notifications on the mac if someone is iMessaging you to your cell number. The only way your chats will appear seamless on all devices is if you are being contacted through your email address, like with FaceTime. I now have multiple chats from the same people. One sent to my phone number and the other sent to my email. So now, I either have to give everyone my appleID email (which I don’t like doing) or make due with multiple chats from the same people. Poor Siri has never been so confused!
My only compliant is the fact that “when you close out a conversation thread and then start a new one with the same person the previous transcript isn’t automatically loaded into the thread…” I hope they fix this, or at least give me the option.
Not quite there yet but its in the right direction.
One workaround is that you can set alternate email addresses for iMessage. So while you can keep your apple ID secret, you can use another email address to give out to people so they can contact you via iMessage.
I closed out a conversation and when a new conversation was started with the same person the old conversation reappeared.
I really think this is only in the Beta version, I think they’re saving up all the good stuff for the actual release
I believe this is only in the Beta version, I really think they are saving up all the good things for the actual release. At least, I really do hope so.
I hope they they’ll be able to send you an iMessage at your number and get it on the Mac. I would think that all iMessages would be in the same place
I tried to work around this forever, I even added the phone number in email address form…no dice.
I tried to work around this forever, I even added the phone number in email address form…no dice.
Still in its’ infancy! I thought that ALL Messages on my iPhone, iMac, and iPad would be “seamlessly synced” via the Cloud, but they’re not. This is how it is portrayed in the promo on the Apple website. And, this is strictly for “iMessaging” i.e. only for iDevices, not for texting, in general. I guess that is why it is still in Beta. Won’t be using this much until it is improved. Still have a lot of friends with inferior Droid devices, unfortunately.
Started a thread on my iMac, then tried to continue it on my phone, but the thread did not appear on my phone. I then closed Messages, went back in, and my previous thread was not there either. And it did not appear when I again sent a message to the same person. I don’t understand how all of this is suppose to work, but it should “just work” like all things with Apple, right????
Hmm – I am able to send Emoji. You just have to enable the character picker in the menu bar using the Text and Language system preference.
if you are using your phone number as your imessage caller id on your phone, then messages sent from your phone will not appear in the messages app on the mac. same way it works on the iPad
All i can say is TMI on the screen shots.
there is a little face in the far right side of the text pane. if you click it, you can see emoji icons.
Real smart! Complain about a “beta” that’s only 10 hours old! Real smart!
They just show up as text on the iPad/iphone though, annoying.
It always crashes on my iMac..so I’m going to wait until it’s not beta anymore.
Just use command + option + T
Opens the special characters and there you can use emoji…