The landscape for instant messaging involves cross-platform instant messaging clients that can handle one or multiple protocols. Clients that use the same protocol can typically federate and talk to one another. The following table compares general and technical information for cross-platform instant messaging clients in active development, each of which have their own article that provide further information.
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name derives from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities. Since 2006, Facebook allows everyone to register from 13 years old, except in the case of a handful of nations, where the age limit is 14 years. As of December 2022, Facebook claimed almost 3 billion monthly active users. As of October 2023, Facebook ranked as the 3rd most visited website in the world, with 22.56% of its traffic coming from the United States. It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.
Facebook is a social networking service originally launched as TheFacebook on February 4, 2004, before changing its name to simply Facebook in August 2005. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates and fellow Harvard University students, in particular Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and gradually most universities in the United States and Canada, corporations, and by September 2006, to everyone with a valid email address along with an age requirement of being 13 or older.
WhatsApp is an instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices, and can be accessed from computers. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app called WhatsApp Business which can communicate with the standard WhatsApp client.
Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store or Play Store and formerly Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating system and its derivatives, as well as ChromeOS, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit (SDK) and published through Google. Google Play has also served as a digital media store, offering games, music, books, movies, and television programs. Content that has been purchased on Google Play Movies & TV and Google Play Books can be accessed on a web browser and through the Android and iOS apps.
Talking Tom & Friends is a video game franchise created and owned by Outfit7 Limited, a Slovenian video game developer. The franchise focuses on various mobile games involving anthropomorphic animal characters repeating things said by the user. The first app, Talking Tom Cat, was launched in July 2010. As of June 2022, the apps have achieved more than 18 billion downloads. The franchise also includes various web series, which are mostly posted on YouTube.
Tinder is an online dating and geosocial networking application launched in 2012. On Tinder, users "swipe right" to like or "swipe left" to dislike other users' profiles, which include their photos, a short bio, and some of their interests. Tinder uses a "double opt-in" system, also called "matching", where two users must like each other before they can exchange messages.
Headspace, a subsidiary of Headspace Health, is an English-American healthcare company specializing in mental health. It was incorporated in May 2010 in London, England by Andy Puddicombe and Richard Pierson. It is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with offices in San Francisco and London.
Talking Angela is a videogame app, developed by Slovenian studio Outfit7 as part of the Talking Tom & Friends series. It was released on November 13, 2012 and January 2012 for iPhone, iPod and iPad, January 2013 for Android, and January 2014 for Google Play. The app's successor, the My Talking Angela app, was released in December 2014.
Audacy, previously known as Radio.com, is a free broadcast and Internet radio platform developed by the namesake company Audacy, Inc.. The Audacy platform functions as a music recommender system and is the national umbrella brand for the company's radio network aggregating its over 235 local radio stations across the United States. In addition, the service includes thousands of podcasts created for the platform, hosted elsewhere or station programming on demand. It was initially developed by CBS Radio and was acquired by the former Entercom as part of the company's takeover of CBS Radio. The service's main competitors are rival station groups iHeartMedia's iHeartRadio and TuneIn. Audacy is available online via mobile devices and devices such as Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV.
My Talking Tom is a virtual pet app released by Slovenian studio Outfit7 on November 11, 2013. It is similar to Pou and the fourteenth app of the Talking Tom & Friends series overall. It was the first Outfit7 game to feature the smoother animation, and to feature Talking Tom's current design. A similar app called My Talking Angela was released on December 3, 2014, with its sequel released on July 13, 2021. Another similar app called My Talking Hank was released on December 2, 2016. A sequel, My Talking Tom 2, was released on November 3, 2018. Yet another similar app called My Talking Tom Friends was released on June 11, 2020. It was the first app to be released under the franchise's new name.
Talking Tom & Friends is an animated comedy children's television web series by Outfit7, based on the media franchise of the same name. Its premiere release was on 23 December 2014 on YouTube, with the final episode being released on 24 December 2021. The first three seasons of the show were produced by the Austrian company ARX Anima, while seasons 4 and 5 were produced by the Spanish animation studio People Moving Pixels.
YouTube Kids is a video app and website for children developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. The app provides a version of the service oriented solely towards children, with curated selections of content, parental control features, and filtering of videos deemed inappropriate for viewing by children under the age of 13, in accordance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits the regular YouTube app from profiling children under the age of 13 for advertising purposes.
Rock My Run is a mobile running/fitness app founded in 2011 that provides running and workout music in the form of DJ mixes. It is owned by Rock My World, Inc., a health and fitness technology company based in San Diego, California. The app allows users to listen to these professional DJ mixes on their smartphone while running or working out to enhance and motivate their performance.
Amazon is an American multinational technology company which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital streaming. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world", and is one of the world's most valuable brands.
Huddles was an American short-form video hosting service and social network where users could create looping videos that are between 2–16 seconds long. It was created by a team led by Dom Hofmann as a successor to Vine, which Hofmann co-founded, until the project was sold to Clash App, Inc. and subsequently renamed.
Talking Friends is an American animated mini-series that premiered on June 8, 2012 on Disney.com and YouTube. Based on the popular app franchise of the same name by Outfit7 Limited, it is the first television installment in the Talking Tom & Friends franchise, and would be the only one to be produced in association with The Walt Disney Company. The series ended on August 31.
