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Sunbird, the iMessage-for-Android app that got shut down, is back again
The company says it has ditched its old setup for a new privacy-focused one
A bunch of messaging apps tried to link iOS and Android messaging, but Nothing (the phone company) came the closest with its Sunbird partnership. The London-based company joined forces with Sunbird to create Nothing Chats, a messaging service mirroring iMessage support. It's like chatting with an iPhone user on Android—complete with messages, group chats, high-quality images, and voice notes. However, it was later discovered that the app wasn't encrypting Apple login credentials when sending them out. This prompted Sunbird to pause its app on the Play Store last November due to security worries. Now, the company is re-launching the iMessage-for-Android app.
There’s nothing more entertaining than some good old pettiness between two tech conglomerates that have a higher combined market capitalization than just two countries’ GDPs, but that’s what we have here. Apple and Alphabet (Google) have very little love for each other, and nowhere is that more felt than when both companies take shots at each other in their marketing efforts. Recently, Google has turned up the wick when it comes to fighting Apple’s market share, leading to the “Best Phones Forever” campaign that has poked fun at the iPhone 15’s USB-C implementation and the lack of Apple RCS support. That brings us to the latest Google-Apple spiciness, as Android’s new Google Messages landing page brags that RCS is coming to iPhones this fall.
US sues Apple for iPhone monopoly, points to iMessage and Apple Watch dominance, among other tactics
Antitrust suit raises similar concerns to the EU's recent DMA mandate
The US is one of the few countries where most people still text from their telephone number instead of using a secure messaging app like WhatsApp. This is partly due to carriers offering free SMS messaging with their plans in the early days of smartphones, but most of us following the mobile industry blame it on one thing: the dominance of iMessage in America. This and other aspects of Apple's walled garden, like its reluctance to fully support non-Apple Watch wearables, are being called into question in a new antitrust case filed by the US Justice Department today.
Beeper Mini’s saga continues with possible FCC investigation
An FCC commissioner is concerned about accessibility gains provided by Beeper Mini
Beeper Mini, the app that brought iMessage to Android phones for a short blissful week, might cause an FCC investigation into Apple. The company quickly blocked Beeper’s workaround to enable iMessage outside its walled garden, and FCC commissioner Brendan Carr wants the agency to look into possible violations of FCC rules committed by Apple in the process.
How to know if someone blocked you on iMessage
Some confirmation would be nice...maybe a "leave me alone" notification?
When things go south with someone, they may block you on their phone to cut off communication. If an iPhone user blocks you on iMessage, you can't reach the person via message, call, or FaceTime. Also, the system doesn't notify you when someone blocks on iMessage. You must look for signs and clues to confirm your blocked status on iMessage.
How to send iMessages from your Android phone or tablet
Although it requires a workaround, it's possible to send iMessages from your Android phone
Did you recently switch from an iPhone to a top budget Android phone? The Android ecosystem has some of the top encrypted messaging apps, but many users miss the convenience of iMessage to stay in touch with friends and family. Since Apple doesn't offer an iMessage solution on Android, your options are pretty limited.
Apple's war on Beeper may be catching users in the banhammer crossfire
No one does petty quite like Apple
iMessage on Android news has been all the rage over the last month and a half due to the saga of Beeper Mini. Almost as quickly as it showed up on the Google Play Store, it’s been taken down. Beeper Mini basically turned Androids into iPhones by virtue of text messages, utilizing an open-source method to access Apple iMessage natively. It was too good to be true, even if we were super excited about its prospects in December. Another twist in the saga has emerged, however: Users who have been using Beeper Cloud well into the new year are reporting that Apple has blocked iMessage on their Macs entirely.
Beeper's final iMessage workaround is also its most complicated
This is what it looks like when Goliath all but wins
If you've been on any Android-focused site — or really, any technology website — in the past few weeks, you've heard of Beeper. Despite its iMessage app having only arrived in the early days of December, Beeper has gone on an absolute journey this month, fighting a war of attrition with Apple that it was, seemingly, always destined to lose. Despite its best efforts, Beeper's iMessage service has spent far more time either restricted or entirely offline than operating as expected.
Apple's Contact Key Verification adds an extra layer of security to iMessage. Here's how it works
It makes sure you're talking to the person you think you're talking to
Apple's iOS is as closed source as it's ever been, and the company says its approach is more secure. There are several extreme security features on iPhones, including Lockdown Mode, which are intended to protect those at risk of highly targeted attacks. Contact Key Verification is another step in that direction.
Android users don't want iMessage — they just want peace
This isn't a story about David and Goliath. It's a story about human interaction
I purchased my first iPhone in 2019 after nearly a decade of exclusively using Android devices. I wasn't writing about Android professionally yet, but I'd long been a staunch defender of Google's mobile efforts, even if I found the then-recent Pixel 4 series testing my patience. Frustrated by a lack of direction from the company's mobile division, though, I moved my SIM out of a Pixel 2 XL and into the iPhone 11 Pro Max, mostly to see how the other side lived.
Beeper Mini has returned iMessage to Android, but it comes with one big catch
Phone number registration remains unavailable for the foreseeable future
What a difference a week makes. Last Tuesday, the future of messaging interoperability between iOS and Android seemed brighter than ever. Not only is Apple's adoption of RCS coming sometime in 2024, but Beeper Mini — a new app from the minds behind Beeper — reverse-engineered iMessage to bring blue bubbles to Android. It took about 72 hours for much of that progress to fall apart, though, with Apple admitting it had made changes to iMessage to prevent Android users from signing up. Now, Beeper Mini is back, though with a massive downgrade in functionality.
Beeper Mini is down, and Apple may have just killed iMessage on Android forever
'All data indicates' Apple is pulling the plug
The iMessage on Android solution everyone on the wrong side of a green bubble has been waiting for finally made its debut this week, and just three days later, the service is experiencing a massive and potentially permanent outage. Beeper Mini is a subscription service that we have been thoroughly impressed with, save for one caveat: the question of what Apple will do now that someone else is profiting off its exclusive messaging service while simultaneously whittling away at that same exclusivity. Early reports suggest today's outage is indeed a result of Apple cutting off Beeper's access.
What iPhone getting RCS means for Android
We'll still be in green bubbles, but our pictures shouldn't be blurry anymore
Android-to-iOS texting has been a sticking point for years. While iPhones get easy access to extra messaging features through iMessage (which is built right into the pre-installed Messages app), those features only work between iPhones and other Apple devices. As of today, texts sent between phones running Android and phones running iOS default to SMS or MMS — meaning less security, lower-quality media, and of course, that dreaded "green bubble" that can break iMessage group chats.
Beeper Mini is the iMessage client Android's been waiting for
If you've always been jealous of the iPhone's blue bubbles, today's your lucky day
The puns wrote themselves. Sunbird's iMessage client comes crashing to the ground. Nothing's partnership with Sunbird flew too close to the sun. You get the idea. Those massive security concerns, combined with Apple's confirmation that RCS is coming to the iPhone sometime in 2024 — bringing improved interoperability between iOS and Android with it — seemed like a sure way to make the demand for an iMessage client on Android inevitably die down.
How to report and block spam in iMessage
Learn how to mute, filter, block, and report spam on your iPhone
Apple has made several questionable decisions, like killing the headphone jack in favor of AirPods and other wireless earbuds. However, iMessage is not one of them. iMessage is one of the crown jewels of the Apple ecosystem. It's included in the default messaging app on the iPhone and offers all the modern messaging features you require from such a service. iMessage has everything from supporting text and voice messages to sending photos and videos and adding cool message reactions.
Sunbird shuts its iMessage app down 'for now' after Nothing Chats debacle
The app's already disappeared from the Play Store
It was just one week ago that Nothing — the company behind a couple of midrange Android smartphones and some admittedly stylish wireless earbuds — announced its biggest swing yet. Nothing Chats was meant to be a new messaging platform exclusive to Nothing Phone 2 users built on the back of an app called Sunbird. Thanks to some truly terrifying security holes, however, Nothing pulled the app from the Play Store less than 24 hours after its launch. The fallout isn't over, however, as Sunbird's own service is also disappearing — at least, for a while.
Weekend poll: Will RCS on the iPhone benefit your life as an Android user?
Sure, you aren't on iOS, but I bet a lot of your friends are
If there was one connective thread weaving together this week's biggest stories in mobile, it was messaging. After Nothing announced a new service designed to bring iMessage support to its latest smartphone — a platform that crashed and burned within 24 hours — Apple made even bigger waves by confirming its plans to add RCS support to the iPhone in 2024. While plenty of questions remain about how Apple's support will shake up the smartphone landscape, the explanation as to why it's tackling RCS, at least, remains pretty clear.
Nothing's iMessage solution might not be as secure as we thought
New report may contradict the company's encryption claims
Apple's iMessage has such a deathgrip on the messaging situation in the United States that companies like Nothing feel like they need to take drastic measures in order to assuage green bubble concerns from potential customers. Earlier this week, the tech world collectively gasped when the design-focused smartphone brand announced it would be bringing iMessage to its Android devices using a service called Sunbird that forwards messages from Apple's servers to a client app called Nothing Chat. We had seen similar third-party hacks before, but an OEM offering this functionality for free almost sounded too good to be true. Now it seems like there may be a serious security problem with Nothing's iMessage implementation.
Google wants the EU to force iMessage to play nice with Android
Maybe public pressure wasn't enough after all
To call Google desperate in its attempts to persuade Apple to adopt RCS support within iMessage would be an understatement. For over a year now, Google's "Get the Message" campaign has tried to apply pressure through a series of pseudo-PSAs, even as Apple has all but ignored these calls for change. Today marks a new step in the cross-platform messaging battles, as Google is turning to EU regulators in an attempt to force RCS adoption — or, at the very least, some kind of improved messaging interoperability — on iOS.
How to turn off iMessage read receipts
Read receipts giving you problems on iMessage? Here's how to shut them down.
iMessage remains Apple’s all-purpose message app. If you’re happily ensconced in the Apple world, you probably don’t use social media message apps like WhatApp or Messenger unless it’s the only way to contact friends or family — iMessage takes care of pretty much everything.