WeChat for iPhone

WhatsApp style messenger with video chat

WeChat is a free Whatsapp-style social networking app, featuring HD video conferencing, QR code invites and a few other interesting features.

Supports voice notes, video calling and more

WeChat is cross platform and includes individual and group messaging with text, voice notes, images, videos and location data. You can make free HD video calls, as well as securely store messages, and it does not invade your chats with intrusive advertising. The app also supports video recordings and syncing of phone contacts.

The app saves your chat history so that you can search it any time. However, if you want to withdraw a message that you've sent through WeChat, you've also got up to two minutes after sending it to remove it from the chat history. However, unless you do this immediately, the chances are that the recipient will have already read it.

Users can search for contacts via a tag entry, as well as switch to the first unread message in Chats with one tap. Other features include a personalized photo stream called Moments, a sticker gallery, games and TRUSTe online privacy management certification. WeChat has also been optimized for iPad, including text size options and improved compatibility.

Other than that, WeChat is just another WhatsApp alternative that doesn't offer anything new, although it has been updated to offer WeChat games. As the developer is based in China, it's also considerably more popular in Asia than the rest of the World.

WeChat supports the Apple Watch with the ability to read and reply to messages, see updated Moments, and make new friends with Friend Radar without using your iPhone.

WhatsApp style interface

The interface of WeChat will be familiar to anyone who has ever used WhatsApp. Chats, Contacts, Social and Settings are listed along the bottom and new notifications appear in your timeline. WeChat is designed with group chatting in mind and includes a Group Live Chat feature for groups for which you can invite up to 100 people into using QR codes.

An interesting WhatsApp alternative with video

WeChat is a heavily-inspired WhatsApp style chat client that can be a bit overwhelming with notifications but if you need to video chat, it's an interesting alternative.

Changes

You can now capture a short video through the new Sight feature and share this to either your chats or your personal photo stream.