It’s an expensive business keeping in touch with friends via cell phones. Even with the advances of technology and the changes in price plans, it still costs a small fortune to call a friend in another country.

While some users might want to go the Skype route, others might fancy a change. That change is called Voypi.

It’s an app that allows users to call or text other Voypi users anywhere in the world for free. There’s not even the irritatation of ad banners getting in the way!

Voypi is always on so users are always connected to others just like a regular mobile phone network, but according to the developers the phone battery isn’t affected negatively by this.

It also works with the phone’s contact list making it easy to find friends without having to set up a separate account.

Voypi works over 3g and Wi-Fi and it’s available now for the grand total of nothing. Why not give it a whirl?

FREE!

Voypi

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2011-05-17 :: Category: Social Networking

Tired of paying to send text messages? Then you might want to check out TextNow from Enflick.

TextNow allows you to send and receive text messages from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to any other mobile number for free. When you first start up the app, you set up a free account with the service and you’re given a phone number to send texts from. When you send a message to another number, it’ll show the message as being sent from your new TextNow number – making it indistinguishable from a text message sent over the iPhone’s actual SMS app. What’s more, the app also allows you to send pictures for free too (but not video, unfortunately).

The app uses Wi-Fi or 3G to send your messages, so you’re able to use it even if you aren’t paying for SMS support from AT&T or Verizon. This makes the app a legitimate option for those who don’t want to pay for text messaging but still want to be able to text message.

The app itself is designed impressively well. It’s sleek, functional and easy to use. Also, there are some nice extras. For example, you can change your conversation background to any picture in your Photos gallery or choose from a selection of included choices.

You might be wondering, “How’s this free?” While there is no catch – it’s actually totally free – the app is ad-supported, so you’ll have to put up with some advertisements along the way if you want free text messaging.

In addition to offering free text messaging, TextNow also offers premium voice features that allow you to make phone calls and receive voicemails from within the app. This allows you to use either your iPod Touch or iPad to make phone calls. But unlike the free texting, though, this service will cost you a fee.

Head over to the iTunes App Store to download TextNow for free.

FREE!

TextNow + Voice - Free Texting and Calling

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Our Rating: :: GOOD, BUT UNRELIABLE
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-05-06 :: Category: Social Networking

As far as texting apps go, we have no shortage of options. There’s textPlus, TextNow, textfree, and plenty of others. However, the developers Borange and atebits (developer of Tweetie) are teaming up to enter the arena with a new app named Textie.

So, what does Textie bring to the table? It can send messages to other Textie users, email addresses, and most mobile phones; it’s free; push notifications are included; and it can handle photos, too. But the real draw here is its user interface. As you’d expect given the developers (atebits’ Tweetie client is set to become Twitter’s official app), the user interface is stellar, and careful attention has been paid to detail. While the app’s feature list isn’t bursting with bullet points, the app handles texts quickly and cleanly. Your “inbox” looks more like the standard Mail app than a third-party application, and in my book, that’s a great thing!

Of course, there are at least a dozen solid texting apps in the App Store. But Textie is free, simple, and elegant. If you don’t have a free-texting app yet, be sure to grab Textie and take it for a spin. (Just make sure you have a data plan!) The app claims to support a number of carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and more, but excluding T-Mobile in the US.

FREE!

Textie Messaging - Beautiful free text chat unlimited (SMS)

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-04-27 :: Category: Social Networking

OneConnect is an attempt by Yahoo! to unify all of the social networks you use into one application. They have released this pretty interesting looking application to the iTunes App Store now. Downloading now…

Features:
* Get a full-featured phone book that can integrate contacts from your Yahoo! Address Book, iPhone, and your social networks (including: Bebo, Dopplr, Facebook, Flickr, Friendster, hi5, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube).
* Connect with your friends via Yahoo! Messenger or SMS. Have fun with emoticons, avatars, and photos.
* See what’s happening on your favorite social networks with an at-a-glance view of status updates, photo uploads, and more.
* Find your favorite people quickly and call, message, or send an e-mail—with one tap.

[ Read More @ Yahoo! ]