yes, the MODS (or at least those that I tried) worked with the IM conversations, I only renamed "MessagingWidgetsSMSConversation" files and changed them to "MessagingWidgetsChatConversation".

Anyway, there's a little thing that I've been trying to change unsuccessfully: the online status only shows up next to the last message sent by the person I'm chating with... all the messages received should keep the contact status. But it's not a big deal .