iMessage, merged chats and polls: what’s new in Chesly

This is the first post on the Chesly blog. From now on, it’s where we’ll share what’s new, and why we built it.

iMessage, through a Mac you leave on

Connect iMessage once from Chesly for Mac, and your iMessage conversations land in Chesly next to WhatsApp, Slack and email, on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android phone and Even Realities G2. Names, photos and tapbacks come through. Turn on Text Message Forwarding on your iPhone, and your texts come through too.

Why a Mac? Apple doesn’t offer a way for other apps to connect to iMessage. A Mac that’s signed in to Messages can, so Chesly works through yours. Keep it on and your chats keep arriving. Chesly can stop it from sleeping while it’s connected.

To set it up, open Settings > Connected Accounts > Add Connection > Messages in Chesly for Mac and choose Connect Messages. It needs macOS 15 or later. Download Chesly for Mac.

One conversation per person

The people you talk to most are often in more than one app. When Chesly spots the same person on another network, it suggests merging their chats, and you can choose Merge Chats from a chat’s menu yourself. A merged chat reads as one conversation, whichever app the next message comes from.

Only the channels you care about

A busy Discord server or Slack workspace can bury the people you actually talk to. Now you choose: open Channels from the chat filter and add the ones you want to your inbox. The rest stay out, and Mentions still shows you when someone @mentions you there. This works for Discord, Slack and Reddit.

Polls

Deciding where to eat in a group chat? Create a poll or vote in one without leaving Chesly. You can start polls in WhatsApp chats, Signal groups and Chesly chats, on iPhone, Mac and Android.

Also new

• Reddit chats now arrive in Chesly with everything else.
• Calls show up in the conversation. Tap an incoming WhatsApp call to pick it up in WhatsApp.
• On iPhone and iPad, press and hold a chat to peek inside.
• Replies sit under the message they answer, so threads are easier to follow.
• On iPhone, WhatsApp and Telegram communities are grouped together.
• Chesly is now in seven languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish and Simplified Chinese.
• On Android, you can subscribe to Chesly Plus in the app through Google Play.
• Chats load and scroll faster on iPhone, and signing in to Slack, Discord, Instagram and Google Messages is more reliable.

On Even Realities G2

• Your iMessage chats show up on the glasses too.
• React with 👍 ❤️ 😂 🔥 or 😢, and pin, archive or mute a chat, right from the glasses.
• With Chesly Plus, dictate a new email by voice.

Update Chesly from the App Store, Google Play or Even Hub. Chesly for Mac updates itself.