JauntyM Messenger — Modern Chat for Your phpBB Forum
If your members still send each other private messages through phpBB’s classic inbox-and-outbox system, you know it feels dated. People expect chat to look like chat — a flowing conversation, not an email thread. That’s exactly what JauntyM Messenger brings to your board, and it’s free and open source.
What it does
JauntyM Messenger replaces the old PM experience with a modern, conversation-style chat. Messages appear as bubbles in a threaded view that reads naturally from top to bottom, just like the messaging apps your members already use every day.
A few things that make it feel genuinely modern:
- Threaded conversations with a clean chat-bubble layout
- A floating chat dock on every page, so messaging is always one click away
- A “Message” button on usernames — hover and start a conversation instantly
- Read receipts (“Seen”) and live typing indicators
- Conversation list with avatars, last-message previews, unread badges and timestamps
- Full BBCode and smilies support, powered by phpBB’s own text engine
- Block, unblock, and hide conversations — members stay in control
- An admin settings panel plus two permissions for fine-grained control
Built the right way
JauntyM Messenger is self-contained: it uses its own database tables and doesn’t touch your forum’s native private messages. That means no risk to your existing data, and a clean install or removal. It works on phpBB 3.2.x and 3.3.x, runs on standard shared hosting (no websockets or special server setup required), and is released under the GPL-2.0 license.
Get it free
JauntyM Messenger is completely free. You can grab the source from GitHub today:
👉 github.com/JauntyMYT/messenger
Installation is simple: upload the folder to ext/jauntym/messenger/, enable it from your Admin Control Panel, and purge the cache. That’s it — your members get modern chat immediately.
Tell us what you think
This is just the beginning. If you try JauntyM Messenger on your board, I’d love to hear how it goes — what works, what you’d like to see next. Drop a comment below or open an issue on GitHub. Your feedback shapes where this goes.
Give your community the messaging experience they already expect. Download JauntyM Messenger →