What is Wildfire IM used for?

Wildfire IM is the iOS app and SDK source for Wildfire IM, a Chinese private-deployment instant messaging and real-time audio and video solution. It is a good fit for building a branded iOS messaging app, embedding chat into an existing iOS app and running a private instant messaging service.

Is Wildfire IM open source?

Yes. Wildfire IM is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at wildfirechat/ios-chat and is written mainly in Objective-C.

Yes. Wildfire IM is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

Can I self-host Wildfire IM?

Yes. Wildfire IM can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Wildfire IM an alternative to?

Wildfire IM is an open-source alternative to WeChat, Tencent QQ and WeCom. Other open-source alternatives to WeChat include Wildfire Chat Android, Element and Telegram for Android.

Is Wildfire IM actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Wildfire IM was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is 1.1.22, published on 13 October 2022. The project has 1.2k stars on GitHub.

Wildfire IM: open-source alternative to WeChat, Tencent QQ

About Wildfire IM

This repository contains the iOS client of Wildfire IM (野火IM), an instant messaging and real-time audio and video solution maintained by a Beijing company. It is both a working chat app and an SDK that developers can integrate into other iOS applications or customize for their own products, and its documentation is written in Chinese.

The project has three parts: a chat client library that provides the messaging capability, a UI kit library of chat interface controls that depends on it, and a demo chat app built on both. The Wildfire IM ecosystem also includes a separate IM server, Android, desktop, web and mini-program clients, an application server, robot server and push server. To run the app you configure the IM server address and the application server address in the project's configuration file.

Private deployment is a core idea, so companies host the server themselves, and the README explains how to trust self-signed certificates by adding them to the app bundle. The code is Objective-C and its licence is listed as other, so check the terms before commercial use. It suits developers building a branded, self-hosted messaging product for iOS.

Key features

iOS chat app and reusable SDK
Separate client and UI kit libraries
Real-time audio and video calling
Private server deployment support
Self-signed certificate trust management
Part of a full IM server ecosystem

Good fit for

→Building a branded iOS messaging app
→Embedding chat into an existing iOS app
→Running a private instant messaging service

Built with: Objective-C
Tags: instant-messaging; ios; chat-sdk; objective-c; voip; private-deployment; wildfire-im; mobile; chinese

Wildfire IM: questions and answers

What is Wildfire IM used for?: Wildfire IM is the iOS app and SDK source for Wildfire IM, a Chinese private-deployment instant messaging and real-time audio and video solution. It is a good fit for building a branded iOS messaging app, embedding chat into an existing iOS app and running a private instant messaging service.
Is Wildfire IM open source?: Yes. Wildfire IM is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at wildfirechat/ios-chat and is written mainly in Objective-C.
Is Wildfire IM free?: Yes. Wildfire IM is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
Can I self-host Wildfire IM?: Yes. Wildfire IM can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Wildfire IM an alternative to?: Wildfire IM is an open-source alternative to WeChat, Tencent QQ and WeCom. Other open-source alternatives to WeChat include Wildfire Chat Android, Element and Telegram for Android.
Is Wildfire IM actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Wildfire IM was on 1 October 2026, and the latest release is 1.1.22, published on 13 October 2022. The project has 1.2k stars on GitHub.