After 6 months of not-quite-official availability for those of us with jailbroken iPhones, Fring, a free mobile Voice-over-IP service (VoIP), has made its way to the App Store. With that, a day that some said would never come has arrived: Skype calls can now be made on the iPhone, no hacks required.
Beyond the Skype functionality (which I imagine would be its most popular use), Fring also lets you chat (and call, where appropriate) friends over MSN, GoogleTalk, AIM, Yahoo, Twitter, ICQ, and of course, Fring’s own service.
Back at the iPhone SDK event March, Steve Jobs stated that there would be no blockade on VoIP applications be it that calls could only be made over WiFi. Other VoIP applications, such as Truphone, made their way out within a few weeks of the SDK’s availability – unfortunately, they only offered support for their own services. With a huge chunk of VoIP users (and, in turn, the other VoIP users they’d be calling) already dedicated to one of the popular PC based services, this wasn’t an optimal solution.
Even with these other VoIP applications available, naysayers feared Skype would never be allowed. If Apple didn’t have some reason block it, AT&T would — or so groupthink might have lead us to believe. With this release, the debate is over – so go grab Fring from the App Store.
no way! fantastic! Love Fring…gutted i just bought that Bee one…
I did exactly the same thing. Wasted £10
This is total waste! trust me, don’t waste your time & money on this.
how long has mobile crunch been open for??
2.5 years =)
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/01/12/a-new-blog-is-born-mobilecrunch/
lol…sorry! i’ll be back though :]
Awesome! However, it doesn’t show up in the App Store for me (search from the iPhone). Searching for “fring” turns up an art-related app called “miArtPak”. Searching for “skype” turns up Truphone.
@TobyM same deal for me… I was able to download it from the App Store via iTunes on my Mac though… Wonder why it isnt showing up when I search from the iPhone??
Anyone know the solution?
It just hit the app store a few hours ago – chances are, they just haven’t refreshed the search index yet.
Thanks for sharing this with us! Wohoo, cheaper calls! :p
SICK!
i’m trying to sign up and it thinks my email address isn’t valid =P
Jenni…looks like fring doesn’t accept a dot in an email address..pathetic!!
lame! they need to fix that..
For a non-skyper like me, tell me how I need this. I mean, if it can only be used over WiFi, it couldn’t possibly replace AT&T minutes, unless I just sat at home or at Starbucks all day, no?
Do you really only get WiFi when on Starbucks only?
How about your office? or in parks, or pretty much anywhere on the street.
You ought to do a little more WiFI scouting.
You’re right, there are more places. I was being a bit facetious. My downtown (Bethesda, MD) area actually has free WiFi but my main use of the phone is while in the car and it’s impossible to use WiFi like that.
I believe this is the beginning of the end for “pay-per-minute” telephone calls. I was expecting this day to come.
I’ve been holding out for Fring on the iPhone and I must say it delivers with flying colors.
I’m more interested in Fring as a chat client, and the experience is great. I deleted the link to meebo’s web-app from my iphone’s home screen.
kudos to the fring team, great job, and keep improving.
will this work on the iPod Touch (obviously you’d have to use the headphones with the mic)?
ok this is awesome. I’m going to download it now, and it better work.
As the technology gets more and more in depth, the older it makes me feel; I need do some serious research on VoIP
http://freddiefallout.blogspot.com
Fring is awesome! We’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time! So happy to see it was released! Shows that Apple has really turned the corner and is willing to rebuild relations with developers. Check out our review on our site: http://digg.com/apple/Fring_Communication_PERFECTED
Digg! us if you’d be so kind ;)
This is huge.
by the way, Fring really is one of my favorite iphone apps.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/11/voip-on-my-iphone/
Do incoming calls break the connection, as they did with TruPhone? Also, I’m assuming that the app has to be up and running in order to receive Skype calls. In other words, is it correct that it (like other apps) can’t run in the background?
Awesome! Love it .. but who is gonna come out with the hack to get around this pesky WiFi only requirement?
nice.. im gonna download it..
http://gatesandjobs.blogspot.com/
Yeah!
Free (http://www.free.fr) subscribers, remember that you have a SIP account for free with your internet subscription. No need for a jailbroken iPhone anymore. More here: http://sip.free.fr/
I was using fring on my older jail broken iphone and i have forgotten my userid and password but there is no way to retrieve it now ????
This is great news, gonna try this out right now.
Hey, does this work on the ipod touch? If you have a headset with a microphone? Someone answer! This would be awesome!
Is there a way to log off gtalk from this app? Seems like once you add Fring, you are constantly logged in while the phone is connected. This will decrease battery life… just curious. Awesome otherwise though.
To answer an earlier post, if you have a user.name@gmail.com, you can just put username@gmail.com.
No 3G = FAIL
why??????????????
I’m paying a full unlimited 3G plan and I want to use it!
I don’t want to hunt for wi-fi spots…
sh*t!
I’m angry
get mad at apple. I run fring on the data connection of my jailbroken iphone
yeah this does not support 3G – that sucks!!!
it’s WIFI only on the iphone 3G ?? pls confirm someone!
so, I understand why this would be useful if traveling abroad, but why is this useful if you’re in your domestic (non-roaming) call area? I don’t really buy the whole “don’t want to use my minutes” excuse because this isn’t 1997 and most people have ample minutes on their plan. And why would you want this to use your mobile data connection? If you are connected to your mobile carrier (non-roaming) then just make a call…or send a text message..or whatever. And if you’re roaming in another country you definitely do NOT want this using your data connection as it will cost you 10X whatever it would be to just make the phone call.
If you are phoning another country maybe? Most call plans do not include international calls and they are very pricey here in the UK.
as I said, if you’re making an international call then yes it certainly has some benefits. But I don’t think it’s the “killer app” people think it is. As a point of comparison, you can also make free voice “calls” via IM. And on IM you can also make a video connection. The requirements for using Fring or IM to make calls are essentially the same (need to have an internet connection).
I get horrible AT&T service in my house, but I have wireless internet, so that’s why this is exciting for me. I hope it works well.
i have the older 2.1 iPhone, not 3G. I still get an error, cannot connect because it is 3G …??
I have a Skype ID, and want to use SKYPE OUT on my iPhone (2.1)
How did some of you call?
i have the same problems, can not use it on my iphone 3g…
It works for me, but i need to shout in order to get my voice heard.
Does anyone know if a VOIP service is going to be available for the T-Mobile G1 Android Phone? What’s interesting is the Android OS is open for development, so I don’t see why they couldn’t make VOIP available.
I’ve got a cool video of the Android phone embedded on my blog:
http://www.thosecoolnewthings.com/?p=201. It’s pretty impressive, and it would be great it if did have VOIP capability.
Ian
http://www.thosecoolnewthings.com
This is huge! Check out the video footage introducing Fring
Thanks Neal, that was an awesome video! That is really a ultimate killer app.
em…nice article…i need know mch about iphone
If i dont have a creditcard..how can i instal fring on my iphone????????
help me?