Filed under: Macworld, Software, iPhone
Macworld 2009: Pinger Phone
I had a quick chat with the folks from Pinger Phone while we were at Macworld 2009. I hadn't heard of it previously, and it turned out to be exactly what I needed to bring together my various forms of communication. It's an iPhone/iPod touch app that provides a contact list combining email, phone, SMS and IM info for all of your contacts. One of the neatest features of the app is its ability to handle text-to-IM chats, which I find useful because I have terrible AT&T coverage around my house; it lets me carry on a text-message conversation using just my wi-fi connection.
Pinger Phone lets you stay online with various IM services, and can notify you of incoming messages as long as the app is open. It also supports (requires, actually) horizontal keyboard mode in text and IM chats, and interfaces well with the phone and email capabilities of the iPhone. The "Contacts" view allows for as-you-type searching of your consolidated contact list (very speedy). iPod touch users can enter any mobile phone number to be notified of incoming messages from a text-to-IM chat.
Read on to see the video from Macworld, and check the support page for more info. If it sounds like something you've been looking for, you can grab it for FREE in the App Store.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jash Sayani said 11:44AM on 2-02-2009
Its a nice free and ad-supported app that combines a lot of apps.... Had seen it on GeekBrief.tv
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Flavio said 12:05PM on 2-02-2009
I read on the iTunes reviews, not sure if true but : it gives away your personal info ? It adds info into your address book ?
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Brett Terpstra said 12:29PM on 2-02-2009
I read those reviews as well, but if you look at their current legal notice, it specifically says that they will NOT (capitalized in the agreement) give away or sell any personal info.
John Moore said 1:00PM on 2-02-2009
I really want to give this a try but it won't send the confirmation
text message for me to setup my account. Anyone else have this
problem?
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NutMac said 1:40PM on 2-02-2009
I registered few hours ago and I haven't received confirmation code either. In addition, it took several tries (after quitting the app) for it to accept the registration PIN code. I hope the app is more stable than the registration process. Otherwise, it's going straight to the trash can.
ht said 9:14PM on 2-02-2009
which country are u in? i'm in aust, and it works fine
Lawrence said 1:19PM on 2-02-2009
not to be a design snob, but those custom buttons and widgets look terrible. it doesn't make sense to me, when Apple already provides a standard widget toolkit.
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luckybleu said 10:26AM on 2-14-2009
www.qtrax.com
Chris said 1:20PM on 2-02-2009
Yeah-- went on this morning to set it up, and still haven't received a confirmation email.
Maybe server overload?
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Jeremy said 1:27PM on 2-02-2009
I can't get my confirmation text message either. Perhaps it's the TUAW effect?
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Tara said 2:03PM on 2-02-2009
Hi guys,
I work at Pinger. In response to your posts:
1. Giving out personal info - We updated the terms and conditions to protect your privacy more appropriately. At first we were (stupidly) using terms and conditions that were an “all in one” version that also covered a WAP social networking service, Pinger Social (where, of course, your info is shared). Now we have separate terms and conditions for Pinger Phone and Pinger Social, and the T&Cs for Pinger Phone are much more conservative. Brett - you are correct! We will not share, sell or give away any personal info.
2. Confirmation text - It appears AT&T is having an issue with text messaging right now in DC, San Antonio, Oklahoma and Arkansas. More info at http://tinyurl.com/cc6dqv . Give it some time and see if you get it. If texting is working but you're still not getting the confirmation text, try signing up again. Of course, make sure you have text messaging enabled :) .
If you're really frustrated, you can always contact our support at support@pinger.com .
Thanks for giving Pinger Phone a try! If you like it, or just want to know what's coming from Pinger, join our fan page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pinger/5758207909
Tara
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dave said 2:20PM on 2-02-2009
Thanks for coming on, Tara!
Can you also address the assertion (in the iTunes App Store reviews) that Pinger Phone modifies my contact files? I saw someone say that it adds dummy e-mail addresses to one's contact records for some reason. Is this true?
Thanks!
John Moore said 2:42PM on 2-02-2009
I just got my confirmation text a few minutes ago. This thing is pretty sweet. I'll probably use it most for the IM-Text replacement since I don't have a texting plan.
IoXXoI said 3:19PM on 2-02-2009
While advertised on UK Itunes, does not work with UK phones contact or otherwise.
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Nathan Lutterman said 3:53PM on 2-02-2009
I managed to get a confirmation text after 5-6 attempts of registering. App keeps crashing when I try to add my facebook information, anyone else having these issues?
Thanks.
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tara@pinger.com said 7:59PM on 2-02-2009
Hi Dave,
Thanks for asking about the “link to contacts” feature. I didn’t see Flavo’s question below the first time I read through the posts.
Pinger Phone does NOT automatically insert gobbly-gook into your address book. However, when you link a contact from Friend News or from IM to a name in your Contacts, Pinger Phone DOES add a little string into your address book for that person only. This way the Pinger Menu knows that so-and-so from Friend News is actually *this* person in your Contacts, and you can connect with them any way you like without going into the Contacts tab. You can delete the string any time, it'll just delete link between the contact and Pinger Menu.
So if you have 10 people in Friend News that you have linked with Contacts, then 10 of your contacts will have a text string in your address book.
The upside is that your address book stays yours only – we don’t copy your address book to our servers and store the info there. In the future, we may create a mini separate database on your handheld that stores the connection for you, but we’re still debating whether that feature takes precedence over other features we are working on.
Does that answer your question?
Tara
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Tara said 8:23PM on 2-02-2009
Hi guys,
IoXXoI - We have a lot of people using Pinger in the UK so I'm not sure what the problem is. Do you mind emailing support@pinger.com so we can investigate?
Nathan - Hmm, I know this sounds overly simplistic (maybe it is) but I'm wondering if you might just need to update Safari on your phone?
I'm the marketing (not support) person, so I apologize in advance that I may not be the best person to answer the more involved support questions. I'm happy to (try to) answer questions, though our support manager can look into the details and probably answer more technical questions much faster and more accurately than I could. He's at support@pinger.com .
Tara
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Nathan Lutterman said 7:28PM on 2-03-2009
Right you are. Updating to 2.2.1 fixed all of my issues with more than just this application. Works wonderfully now!
Tara said 7:37PM on 2-03-2009
Nathan,
Awesome! Great to hear :)
Tara
Allister said 2:23AM on 2-03-2009
I got kicked off iLounge for taking this line, but can you PLEASE let everyone know when stuff you feature is not available in all countries. You've got a big enough audience you can check these things out with a little pre-arrangement. HINT: If it involves TXTing, it's probably country-dependent.
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