Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log into accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on XMPP and sitting in an IRC channel at the same time.
Pidgin runs on Windows, Linux, and other UNIX-like operating systems.
Pidgin is compatible with the following chat networks out of the box: Jabber/XMPP, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, and Zephyr. It can support many more with plugins.
The following sections contain descriptions of how to perform some basic tasks with Pidgin.
Pidgin offers installation instructions for Windows, Linux (Debian/Ubuntu), FreeBSD and macOS on the official website.
Head to pidgin.im to find out how to install the latest version of Pidgin for your operating system.
For Windows, there's an executable installer that you can download from the pidgin.im website, as well as a portable version that doesn't need installation. Head over to the their install section for more information.
For Linux, you can usually find Pidgin within your Linux distribution's official package repositories and you can use your package manager to install it.
For Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install pidginFor FreeBSD, there's an official package available which you can install with the pkg command.
pkg install pidginFor macOS, the Pidgin developers recommend Adium for a more native experience, which is a similar IM client that uses libpurple (the core of Pidgin).
If you still want to install Pidgin on macOS, you may find the package provided through third-party macOS package managers, like Homebrew.
To install with Homebrew:
brew install pidginWhen you first install Pidgin and start it, you are usually greeted with the Accounts window:
If you've accidentally closed the Accounts window, open Pidgin's main window (check the tray if Pidgin is minimized and not showing on the task bar) and click the Accounts → Manage Accounts menu item or press Ctrl + A on Windows.
Registering new XMPP accounts is easy but it requires that you create the account with a server that allows open registrations.
From the Accounts window click Add and the Add Account window opens:
To register a new account, make sure you tick the
Create this new account on the servercheck mark at the bottom of theBasictab, otherwise Pidgin will only try to log in with the information you provide, which might result in an error if the account does not exist on the server.
Complete the Login Options form:
- Protocol (required): select
XMPPfrom the dropdown list. - Username (required): enter your desired username (the part before the
@sign from the complete user ID, for examplemefrom the ID[email protected]). - Domain (required): enter the domain name of the XMPP server you wish to register with (the part after the
@sign, for examplesome-server.comfrom the ID[email protected]) - Resource (optional): enter a custom name you would like to give to your current
resource, a simple string that uniquely identifies multiple logins to the same XMPP account, for example from different devices (Home PC,iPhone, etc). - Password (required): enter the password you would like to register your account with.
- Remember password (optional): tick this check mark if you don't want to be asked for your password every time you restart Pidgin or log out and back in again.
Optionally, you can also complete the User Options form:
- Local alias (optional): this custom alias appears in chat logs and can be used to specify a shorter name for how your messages appear in local chat logs, so this is only visible to you. For example
Me, instead ofyour_complete_username.
Tick the Create this new account on the server check mark at the bottom if you haven't already done so.
Finally, click the Add button and Pidgin should automatically request the creation of your account with the server and then log you in.
If successful, you should see an empty buddy list and your status set to Available.
With some servers you can sometimes see a bot was added to your buddy list by default, usually to send you a welcome message or to provide help. To find out more about adding contacts to your buddy list, head to the How to add a new contact section.
Logging in to an existing account is similar to registering a new account. The difference is that you must have an existing account and you must not tick the Create this new account on the server check mark.
To add a new contact, click the Buddies → Add Buddy... menu item.
The Add Buddy window opens:
Complete the required fields:
- Account: if you're logged in to multiple accounts, select which one to add your contact to.
- Buddy's username: enter your contact's complete user ID. If they're using the same server as the currently selected account, you can omit the server name and enter just the user name (only the part on the left of the
@sign). - Alias (optional): enter an alias for your contact, if you prefer a shorter or more distinct name for your contact.
- Add buddy to group: select an existing group from the dropdown list or enter a new group name to create a new group for this contact.
Finally, click the Add button.
If your contact is online and has accepted to connect with you, you will see their status in Pidgin's Buddy List.
If you don't see your contact, then read on.
By default, Pidgin doesn't show empty groups and offline contacts, or contacts that haven't yet accepted for you to see their presence. If you want to check if the contact has indeed been added to your contacts list, click and enable the Buddies → Show → Offline Buddies menu item.
You should now see your new contact even if they're offline or haven't answered your request to connect yet.
Optionally, click and enable the Buddies → Show → Buddy Details menu item to see if your contact hasn't authorized you yet or if they're just offline.
To start a new chat with someone, locate the corresponding contact in Pidgin's Buddy List, double click it and a new conversation window will appear:
Notice the local alias we were talking about in the Register an account section. There, we set it to "Me". In the above screenshot you can see how that would appear in a chat.
Some useful tips:
- XMPP allows you to send messages to offline contacts as well as receive messages from offline contacts. Sometimes you might want to hide your online status and not just appear as
AwayorBusy. To open a chat to an offline contact, you need to show offline contacts first, by enabling the Buddies → Show → Offline Buddies menu item from the Buddies List window. - If you have a very long contacts list, you can search a contact by name just by typing in the Buddy List window. You don't need to select anything. A search box will appear as soon as you start typing and the selection in the Buddy List will jump to the nearest match. If the selected contact matches your request, pressing
Enterwill open a new chat window for the selected contact and close the search. PressEscto cancel the search at any time.
The capability to send media like pictures, video files and voice messages, depends on the XMPP server's provider.
Providing services like hosting for image files, audio files or video files can be very expensive. Not all XMPP chat servers offer these services, especially some of the free ones.
These limitations might seem like they are not working in XMPP's favor, but this is the main reason why other similar instant messaging services are free and XMPP might not be: other services make money by mining and selling your personal information (and in exchange you get free file transfers and sharing).
If you take privacy seriously but you still want advanced media capabilities, you can look at paid XMPP services or you can run your own XMPP server (it's actually not that hard to find a host).
Pidgin does not have advanced video or voice chats functionality built in like some other IM clients. It can send files though.
To send a file to a contact, any file (picture, video, audio, etc.), you can right-click a contact in your Buddy List and choose Send File..., or in a chat window open the Conversation menu and click Send File... from there:
Pidgin can also send inline images and links. Press the Insert button right above the message input box in a chat window:
Sending images this way depends on the server's capabilities, so the Image option might appear as disabled.
Besides manually sending someone a message with a link to a web page, for example to a place on Google Maps, Pidgin has no built-in way of sharing location with a contact.
To create (or join) a group chat, you first need to create a chat room. Click the Buddies → Add Chat... menu item.
The Add Chat window opens:
In this window you are only required to specify a friendly name for the chat room that you are creating and then you can press Add to have the room created and added to your buddy list. You'll then have to double click the new room in your buddy list to see it.
After the room is created, you can invite your contacts to join it by either clicking the Conversation → Invite... menu item and entering their ID or by dragging them from the buddy list to your new room window.
You can also message anyone with the room's address. The room's address is simply made up of the room's name, which you just entered, followed by the @ symbol and the server's address. For example [email protected].
Here is what a new group chat window will look like:
On the Add Chat window there are a few more settings you might be interested in:
- You can specify a password so random people can't join.
- You can change your handle or nickname as it appears in the room.
- You can change the room's alias, as it appears in your contacts list.
- You can choose to rejoin the room as soon as you log in to your account.
- And you can choose to remain in the chat room even if you close the room's window. That way you can still get notifications when new messages are posted in the room.
You can also join other rooms without knowing their name first.
That is what the Room List button is for.
For a simpler way to join or create a room, you can click the Buddies → Join a chat... menu item. If the room you specify doesn't already exist, it will be created automatically. The message window will open immediately this way but you won't remain in the room once you close this window and you won't see it in your buddy list. This is a simpler way to create a group chat, meant for temporary rooms which should disappear once everybody has left.
Some server's give you the option to make a room permanent. The room won't be deleted after you log out and will retain message history on the server. If you're OK with that, after you've created a room using the first method above, right click it in your buddy list and choose Persistent.
Since group chats in XMPP are based on the concept of rooms, it's is only natural that this can lead to communities centered around a room.
To find public community chats, you do like before, with creating a new group chat by clicking the Buddies → Add Chat... menu item, but now you click the Room List button instead.
You are presented with a window asking you to enter a conference server address. That is the part after the @ sign in a group chat room's address. The default address will be filled in, which is your current server's address.
You can leave the default server address or enter another server. After that, you press Find Rooms and you will see the Room List window showing a list of rooms available on the server:
Pick any room and click Join to join the community chat.