One of the best one-in-all communication/messaging application available for all major OSes out there
What’s new in Franz 5.7.0:
- Features:
- App: Add support for screen sharing during video calls
- Bug Fixes:
In a perfect world, we would have no problems sending messages, SMSs, MMs, reply to emails and collaborate with team members from the same place.
Even though this is not yet possible (and probably never will), Franz comes close to this ideal.
What is Franz?
Franz is an app aggregator that provides a way of centralizing all your email, messaging, and collaboration tools under a single roof.
One of the biggest advantages of Franz is that it supports all the major messaging and chat services out there. Slack, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google services, Telegram, Skype, and Zendesk are just some examples. A complete list of supported services is available on Franz’s official website.
Another great aspect of Franz is that it allows you to add each service as many times as you want. For example, if you do so desire, you can add four or five instances of Messenger accounts at once.
Tons of supported apps, and a smart organization feature
Franz’s biggest appeal is its ability to save you time. However, as well know, throwing multiple web services in any app, and things could easily get out of hand. This is why Franz allows you to organize your services using Workspaces.
For example, you can add all your personal accounts and web apps in one workspace, and all your work and business-related ones in another.
Other nifty features
A big part of why Franz is so good at what it does is due to its well-thought-out GUI. You thoroughly customize various aspects regarding how Franz delivers notifications, it allows you to work with multiple instances of the app, it’s extensible via plug-ins, and it even has a Dark Mode.
It also has support for proxy services, and the app’s GUI is available in multiple languages.
Verdict
To conclude, Franz is a straightforward and surprisingly efficient web app aggregator that does a fine job of bringing together the most popular messaging and collaborative tools under a single roof.
The main drawback of Franz is that it doesn’t have support for more popular web apps and services. Not only that, but Franz does not allow you to add custom services (at least not in a straightforward way, as you have to create your own plugins for any non-listed service).
