VOIP Tech Chat → Free Mobile SIP App

Hey guys, there was a topic about this a while ago on here but I thought I would review an app I recently tried out and love. The most popular SIP app seems to be Acrobits (at least for iPhone) and while I got it easily configured and working, it is very buggy and call quality is poor.

Who knew voice quality could be so greatly affected by a SIP app but I guess it is because it is the medium that handles the voice codec part? Anyway, I got tired of audio issues so recently went on the search for a better SIP app. I came across Cloud Phone which is a free version of Acrobits made by the same guys but it required some kind of weird 3rd party registration so I didn't want to deal with that....

At the end I found Linphone which is a little known free SIP app that supports both iPhone and Android (possibly more platforms too). Anyway, I got it configured easily as well as it is officially supported by CallCentric on their configuration page and I love it. UI is simple but intuitive, doesn't crash, lots of configuration options, and near perfect voice quality. Definitely check out the app if you are in the same boat as me and I hope this helps somebody else out

CSipSimple works well for me on Android with voip.ms. Have you tried that one?

Nope, heard of it though. Is it paid?

Regardless, I have no need to switch now

Free app.

I second that. CSipSimple works well for me.

I swear CSipSimple is bipolar. When it works well, it's awesome. When it's temperamental, I wanna take my phone and throw it.

Does it allow background registration? If so, how's the battery life impacted by this?

Good question but I couldn't tell yah, I only run it when I need to use it and then close and exit it immediately. During use however, I could already tell it used a little less battery life than Acrobits after placing a call of the same length.

OK, thanks. Their free SIP service looks interesting. It looks like they support SRTP and zRTP. Also, they have quite a few wideband codecs as well.

CSipSimple works well except when sometimes it doesn't want to hang up a call. It will hang for a moment then terminate.

It's a good app otherwise.

am very happy with CSipSimple. Have not other apps though. the UI navigation esp. with settings is a bit confusing at times - there are few settings at account level and few in common.

Another endorsement for CSIPSimple. The UI design could be a lot better, but it supports a lot of features (STUN, DNS SRV, TLS, etc) and it works relatively well.

If you're concerned about battery, try to register using TCP and not UDP, less keep-alive packets required, thus the phone doesn't have to wake up as often.

Just to mention another product to consider for those reading this thread, BRIA has worked very nicely for me.
»Re: [General] Does anyone use Bria or other iPhone SIP phones?

[Take note of my method for reducing battery drain.]

Wholeheartedly agree that CSIPSimple is "temperamental"...I love the app, but have the same issue with calls I cannot hang up and guess what: it's the ONLY app on my Note3 that has crashed the phone 3 times so far.
Not good...but the features and cal quality make me put up with these annoyances.
I tried Zoiper and found it working fine, despite not having as many options.

And one more thing, why I've stopped endorsing CSipSimple, and it is - in some Android OS's and Android devices it become unreliable and can miss incoming calls. Then, later on, it wakes up and starts ringing. But who needs it at that time... So, it may or may not work for you. For example, in my old Android 2.2 device, it's happening all the time. Thus, I can't use it as a real phone, only as a SIP test app.

I've used CSipSimple on Gingerbread, ICS, Jellybean, and now on KitKat, and none of those builds gave me that problem.

But... in the spirit of full disclosure... I did have that issue before... And the fix that worked for me was to set UDP timeout to 10 seconds on the router.

CSipSimple crashes my phone from time to time, but personally I think an app that seamlessly handles a voice stream via SIP using relatively compact hardware ought to get a pass for that. Not to mention, an app that easily works with a free PBX server like PIAF.

Thanks for the heads up on Linphone - I will certainly give it a trial now that you have recommended it. I have been using Zoiper on an iPhone and Android and it works perfectly well. I am keeping a log of how much each SIP App drains my batteries when in background mode and I'm ready to move onto my next App.

It'd be nice if someday you share with us your observations
I'm sure many would like to see some comparison between SIP apps and how they drain the battery in smart phones...

Now I'm over the initial shock of watching my battery drain from 80% to 40% in two hours, it is my intention to do that. I'm also taking note of any differences between SIP v IAX and GSM v G729.

Looks like all good things must come to an end....

Linphone is now just as buggy as Acrobits was from me. Sometimes call quality is OK, but most of the time I can hear the party on the other end just fine but they can only hear bits and pieces of me. Calls also drop frequently while navigating through IVR menus.

@Bira, no results in iOS app store.

@Csip, same thing....looks like Android only.

Why is there not a simple 100% functional/stable iOS SIP application?! It can't be that hard....

I used CSipSimple and Bria (paid version) for sometime. Both worked well. When I was in China in May, I found CSipSimple didn't work on some Android phone there. I switched to Zoiper and have been exclusively using it. It appears more stable and, as I was told, it has lower standby current. It is full time registered and the battery life looks o.k.

I am so confused

1) Tried Zoiper on iPhone. 0/10. HORRIBLE. Unstable, ugly, interface lags, no thank you.

2) Acrobits was giving me the same problem Linphone was yesterday. Dropping calls randomly, crashing on IVR menus, people not being able to hear me, etc.

3) Linphone, while FAR from perfect (I would never release an app in its state to the public iOS app store) is the least of all evils. I can confirm that after several hours of testing yesterday.

I also edited some settings in my higher end home router than should help stabilize and direct as much traffic towards those SIP apps as possible. The sad part? Linphone also has a desktop softphone for linux and it is just as HORRIBLE as Zoiper is for iPhone. But the Zoiper desktop softphone for linux? Works perfectly.

Why can't just 1 company put out a reasonably-priced quality product that is consistent across all platforms?

I've tried most of the ones mentioned in this thread and I always seem to end up back with Acrobits.

My only issue with Acrobits is that sometimes my phone doesn't wake up quick enough to get the call.

Acrobits advised me to possibly keep the app in an always on state and not use push notifications, but of course the battery takes a huge hit doing it that way.

I also noticed that if I go into my phones settings and check battery usage, that sometimes Acrobits is showing up and sometimes it isn't.

Sometimes it is using a large amount of the battery, and sometimes it's not. Very inconsistent.

I'm using an Android phone. Google Nexus 4.

I'm happiest with Bria. I have it on Nexus 7, Nexus 4, iPad and a handful of iPod Touch. I also have the Windows version licensed on my desktop. The last release of the desktop version was a major leap forward.

The cost of these mobile apps is so small, under $10 that I prefer to pay for them as long as I can have access to support as a result. A free app without support often isn't worth the money, which gets expressed in my time and frustration.

FWIW, I use the Internet Calling built into Android—it’s bare bones, but works decently. While it’s nowhere near as powerful as CSipSimple, I have found it to work more consistently and with less annoyances. As for the iPhones, well, I don’t recommend them .

Not sure why. I am using Zoiper everyday and don't have any problem. I have installed Zoiper on I-Phone for my friends and didn't heard complaint either. Not sure what happened to your installation but to be clear, I don't have much my own experience with it on iphone. Maybe it does not work well on iphone.