Franz

Over the course of my day, I bounce between a number of different chat apps, primarily Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Slack, and Google Hangouts. With the exception of Slack, none of these services offered a Mac desktop app, and so I needed to keep browser windows open for each of my conversations, which was very frustrating.

Enter Franz, a hilariously-named and incredibly useful app that rolls the aforementioned services (as well as others, like Telegram) into one unified desktop app, with tabs for each of your individual chat apps.

I’ve been using Franz for a few weeks, and have loved it. It was easy to set up, runs smoothly, and seamlessly integrates with OS X notifications. It features all the tools of the apps themselves (sticker-sending in FB Messenger, Conversation muting in Whatsapp, and so on). It also plays well with notifications on my iPhone, and so I don’t get pinged with multiple alerts.

Franz is available for free on both Windows and Mac. I can’t recommend it highly enough. And the copy on their website is both clever and historically accurate. On their FAQ:

Why is Franz called Franz? Franz, Franz, Franz, Franz, Franz, Franz, Franz… Easy to say, easy to pronounce and full of history. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria had a rough time following the downfall of the Austrian Empire. Why not give someone with the presumably exceptional communication skills of an emperor a second chance?