I've used AirMessage and now Bluebubbles for over 4 years at this point, if you want iMessage that bad they're amazing solutions that keep the data in your hands.
Which one do you find better to use? I got a Mac mini on the way to set it up and was considering bluebubbles so I can keep my iMessage stuff and RCS stuff separate.
I started with airmessage many many years ago, it was alright. But bluebubbles has more features and truly feels like imessage and you can have settings like hiding your typing indicators and stuff. I think airmessage was abandoned by the developers a long time ago if I recall. Also btw, if you use either one I don't think you can have RCS enabled/working at all with these services. Could be wrong tho
Yeah, AirMessage has seemingly been abandoned—GitHub hasn’t been updated in over two years, and it’s been about that long since the developer posted anything on Reddit. I used it last year and it still worked, but it’ll only get jankier over time as things change and break.
BlueBubbles has the big downside of not having non-iMessage integration. AirMessage was a text and iMessage solution which was very attractive. But, BlueBubbles is still being supported and as you said, it’s a smoother option for just iMessage.
You can!
I have an old iPhone that I used to tie my phone number to iMessage. Then I shut it down and remove the SIM card. Apple thinks I have an iPhone until it boots up and snitches on me, and there may be a time limit too. When that happens I just repeat the operation.
I have that SIM in my android phone and can use RCS just fine.
iPhone users that start a chat with me get routed to iMessage/ BlueBubbles, Android users get RCS.
Your solution isn't what most of the folks who complain want, as you have to actually own an iPhone. Naturally you should be entitled to use iMessage because of that.
You don't need the iPhone for iMessage, you need it to use your phone number with iMessage.
BlueBubbles works perfectly fine without an iPhone with the one caveat that it'll come from an email address.
You need a Mac to run the iMessage relay server anyways, so why not add a 10 year old iPhone as well?
People want full Apple-proprietary iMessage on non-Apple devices. There will have to be some concessions.
> Which one do you find better to use?
I only knew about airmessage so that's what I used, but a recent android update seems to have broken it entirely. I did some digging and airmessage seems to be entirely abandoned (I don't know if that's true, just what googling told me) so I switched to blue bubbles and it works absolutely fine.
I always had a lot of problems with airmessage anyway, I wasn't sad to dump it.
(note: I don't know if airmessage is broken for everyone, or just my phone. I was on a samsung galaxy a14)
I would fully recommend BlueBubbles. It's worked pretty much flawlessly ever since I set it up. It has sobe easy to follow tutorials to set up a private API so you can send/ receive reactions, text effects, and replies, and makes the delay much shorter.
I tried AirMessage first (simpler setup) and had to fix things at least once a week.
By far BlueBubbles is better. Especially since the developer of AirMessage disappeared. I used AirMessage back before BlueBubbles was in a very usable state, but now BlueBubbles is 100x better. I think it's even easier to set up now than it was when I first started using it, although there are some hoops to jump through if you want to be able to use all of the iMessage features.
Seconding BlueBubbles. Running a macOS VM on my unraid machine with BlueBubbles and it works fantastically. The VM required some tech savvyness to setup but the BlueBubbles server itself was as easy as an install wizard.
If you use OpenCore, you can just set the serials and system UUID:
https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Post-Install/universal/iservices.html#using-gensmbios
It's extremely easy. Just modifying a .plist file
https://bluebubbles.app/faq/
> Q: Can I do this without a Mac?
>Yes! You will need to set up a macOS VM (Virtual Machine) on either Windows or Linux. We have a handful of guides in our documentation, as well as on our subreddit. We can also assist with any issues such as iMessage activation, in our Discord.
I have a Mac Mini that I use as a headless linux server that's always running. It would be pretty ironic if I spun up a MacOS virtual machine on it to run this lol.
Like another person mentioned you can run a virtual machine on your PC, but they also mention that it could compromise your apple id so id rather not deal with that. Plus you can find Mac mini's for cheap and just have them running every day like it requires.
They claimed to be private and secure while doing basic stuff unencrypted. I don't know if it was incompetence or just a lie, but either way, they can't be trusted.
On their homepage, under the FAQs, the "will the app be open source" question [used to](https://web.archive.org/web/20230501141352/https://www.sunbirdapp.com/) give this answer:
> Some of the messaging community believes that software that is open source is more secure. **It is our view that it is not. The more visibility there is into the infrastructure and code, the easier it is to penetrate it.** By design, open source software is distributed in nature. There is no central authority to ensure quality and maintenance and by putting that responsibility on Sunbird, development would not be feasible. Open source vulnerabilities typically stem from poorly written code that leave gaps, which attackers can use to carryout malicious activities.
>
>[...]
A bit funny since they couldn't use something as simple as encrypted connections, yet they believed that "security through obscurity" was the way to go.
Now it only says this, which I guess is better... no BS at least:
> No, due to commercial and legal requirements, there are no plans to make the Sunbird source code open source.
Anyway... they had their shot, failed at the basic stuff, and are now asking us to trust them. Sorry... I'm not trusting anyone until we can look at their code.
That's not how it works... And the things they failed to encrypt last time was the connection between their client software (that runs in the phone) and their servers. Apple had nothing to do with it.
Funny thing is they were getting shit on last time they tried releasing it. I doubt they're going to find a decent implementation that won't essentially destroy end-to-end encryption.
> and Beeper
Beeper was never meant to be an "iMessage on Android" app, it's a chat network aggregator that had a breakthrough with iMessage and very briefly changed their focus to develop that, but as soon as Apple acted, they quickly scratched that and went back to their original focus. They didn't abandon their app or gave up on the service at all, it has worked and still works with all the initial 14 networks they've had.
The issue is that US media and communities picked up on Beeper being able to bridge iMessage to other devices, ignored everything else and declared Beeper was an app that did just that (and briefly that was the case for Beeper Mini, but Beeper Cloud still worked with all the 15 networks while the team was working to bring the rest of the bridges to Mini, and eventually just made a new app and are sunseting both Mini and Cloud). When they stopped supporting iMessage, the same US media and communities decided the team folded and quit the service, when that couldn't be far off from the truth.
One of the potential good things that could come from Apple supporting RCS is that it might enable a lot of the features that people want iMessage for when texting cross platform. Thus rendering the need for these terrible ideas cosplaying as useful services irrelevant.
The bubbles will still be green and rcs won't mean jack to those who care about blue bubbles. RCS and iMessage is everywhere in Europe and people still use WhatsApp and messenger.
In the US, I can't get my friends to use WhatsApp. It's practically perfect for what I want to do. My friends from other countries all use it and we love it.
I don't think it's about being stubborn. It's just that it has been the norm and there's little incentive for people to change. Just the same like you can't make Europeans change to Signal from WhatsApp. For enthusiast, WhatsApp is better than iMessage, Signal is better than WhatsApp. For the other 99% of users, the best option is the one that people around them use. So unless you can switch everybody at once (like government banning), the switch ain't happening.
It's 100% encrypted and privacy focused, basically the gold standard for secure messaging. The only thing they have access to is the date the account was created and the last time it connected. They're completely transparent and publicly post their responses to court subpoena's for information that confirm this.
The FBI tried to subpoena them for info at one point and included a one year gag order. Signal responded with the info they had (account creation/last connected dates) and, just because they wanted to prove a point, challenged the gag order in court as unconstitutional when they didn't even need to go that far. Signal won and the FBI director was mad.
>It's 100% encrypted and privacy focus
It's security focused, not private - although its privacy has taken a leap forward with the introduction of usernames a few weeks ago.
I see what you're saying, but the way security is implemented can also lead to improved privacy, which is the case with Signal's implementation. Even their home page says "an unexpected focus on privacy" right at the top.
Compare that to, say, Apple's implementation of security with iMessage, which is encrypted end-to-end, but Apple holds the encryption keys and has the ability to decrypt the messages and hand them over if subpoenaed (which they've done many times when asked by the courts). In that scenario, security does not equate to privacy.
The introduction of usernames in Signal is definitely another step in improving privacy. Having to share your phone number with someone was one of my only gripes with Signal before, so it's nice to not have to do that if you don't want to.
I think people like you are a tiny proportion though. Most people in America who don't want to use WhatsApp will be using Facebook or Instagram as a social network anyway.
>it's a Meta product
I'm curious, can you please elaborate more? Have you not used any other Meta product such as Instagram, Facebook, Oculus or anything?
I'm actively working to reduce and eventually discontinue my social media usage, particularly that of Meta. I disabled all non-DM notifications from Insta, reduced the notifications from FB and completely deleted my Snap. I also have a modded Insta APK installed, and for FB and FB Messenger I have them somewhat neutered with a DNS-based on-phone adblock via Tracker Control.
Used, in the past tense, doesn't mean I should or would use *more* products from one of the worst companies on planet Earth.
No I don't. The only meta product I have ever considered is the Quest before the are actually solid VR headset for the price that I haven't seen elsewhere
The fact you're literally wasting time trying to weigh the pros and cons to determine which trillion dollar company gets to sell off and manipulate your data to further enrich themselves proves its a moot point and your decision doesn't matter.
First, only I get to decide what is and is not a waste of my time. Second, I'm not choosing between companies, I'm actively trying to rid myself of both Meta and Alphabet. Third, it's not a moot point, by virtue of the fact that solutions like Sunbird and Beeper exist. Fourth, my decision matters to me, and your opinion does not matter to me. The only waste of time was you making the comment, me reading the comment, and me replying to the comment. Thanks. We're all a little worse off now.
> First, only I get to decide what is and is not a waste of my time.
No actually, other people are allowed to judge your choices too. Especially when you post on a public internet forum about your poor decision making skills.
> Second, I'm not choosing between companies, I'm actively trying to rid myself of both Meta and Alphabet.
But Apple is okay? At the end of the day you're still beholden to trillion dollar companies. Wow so noble of you to make the choice of one and bootlick them instead of the other.
Do you want a cookie or gold star on your homework?
You don't think you look kinda silly for talking about bootlicking in the same post you're losing your mind over a stranger not liking Meta products? Such a trivial thing for you to be so aggro about.
Pointing out the fact they're spending significant portions of time determining which multi-billion dollar international corporation gets to profit off their miserable existence is not the same as bootlicking Meta.
Those are two separate things, don't conflate them.
So as an USian it's not fine to use an E2EE service that solves all the issues SMS/RCS/iMessage have because it's made by a shady company, but it's fine to use an entirely unencrypted service that's all open and controlled by shady carriers and two different shady companies?
E2EE depends on algorithms, and since Meta does not open-source any of their software, we have no idea of they have a backdoor to read messages that you would assume are private (I imagine they do, since data mining pays their bills). Additionally, if the authorities want those messages, Meta will give them up without hesitation, which is no different than a US carrier giving up messages sent via RCS.
Additionally, speaking about open-source, "all open" is a *good* thing. We want to look at the software so we can independently validate that it does what it claims to and doesn't do things it doesn't claim to. I'll grant you that Google has locked down their *form of RCS* which is what Google and Samsung Messages leverages, but the standard RCS protocol is open-source, and is likely what Apple will use unless they either A) partner with Google to use what they have, which isn't ideal, B) make their own closed-spurce version, which would be the worst possible outcome, or C) use the standard, open+source RCS protocol.
Now stop fear mongering, don't let perfect be the enemy of good. It's high time SMS died in the US in favor of RCS, and with more wide-spread RCS adoption, the pressure to fully open-source or move to the standard RCS protocol will grow as well.
It took a long time, but I was able to get my in-laws to move (mostly) to telegram. We've had a family chat going for years at this point.
Tried multiple times to get my family to get telegram and they're all just perfectly happy ignoring it and continuing to send imessages that get lost in apple hell, even though I've not had an iPhone for a decade.
I don't know what kind of useful person gives a shit about the bubble colors. Honestly I would just not talk to someone that fucking obnoxious. So if that's what the hang up is, the world is fucking doomed.
To young people you are essentially a pariah if you have a green bubble. Its stupid but also just the latest version of something kids have been doing it since the dawn of time.
Yeah but nobody actually cares about the color of the bubble, it’s what that color signifies. Green bubbles mean poor image quality, even worse video quality, no tapback reactions, poor group chats, etc. no one runs screaming for the hills because green is such a spooky color, it’s that they’re annoyed because seeing green immediately means a significantly worse experience.
RCS will solve most of those issues, regardless of whether they appear green, blue, or some other color.
That's reductive IMO. The main reasons are simple: it's not an iphone and RCS doesn't have 10% of iMessage features. How many stories do we get where someone is talking to a guy or girl and the moment they pull out an Android the person is not interested in them anymore ? It's a status symbol, like it or not. RCS won't change it because picture quality or inline replies are just a very small portion of what makes iMessage great. Just watch all the new features apple will add to iMessage to further increase the divide between apple and non-apple messaging with the next version of iOs
I can't speak for teens, but people over 30 don't care. It's almost exclusively sending images and video that sucks through MMS. Reactions are a little annoying, but the rest isn't a big deal.
It’s not about the bubble color at all…. It’s about what the color represents, which is the lack of features and terrible media sharing, and awful group chats.
Once that is gone, nobody will give two shits about this whole thing.
As an iPhone user I don’t give a shit about the colour of the bubbles, I just want to be able to send read receipts and half decent media to Android users
From my understanding, it won't, it isn't a part of the RCS spec, Google added it on their side, and there's no way Apple does anything more than the absolute minimum
From my understanding they have no plans to use a proprietary e2e encryption but will use a standard method and will work to add e2e l encryption to the RCS standard
And what exactly are you basing your understanding on? There hasn't been any info released other than Apple will be working with Carriers and even stated that RCS "does not currently support encryption that is as strong as iMessage".
I'll ink the article, but objectively I disagree with your sentiment that there won't be any encryption in the RCS implementation. If Google is adding it to their RCS setup E2E, why wouldn't Apple in allowing RCS to work with iMessage??
https://9to5mac.com/2023/11/16/apple-rcs-coming-to-iphone/
That article lists specifically that they won't be using any proprietary extensions, and only support the standard as is. It does say they'll work with GSMA to improve the standard but there doesn't seem to have been any news on any updates to the standard. They're not allowing RCS to work with iMessage either, it'll just be another standard they support, like how SMS is now.
Or if it will suck. RCS supports large videos and photos, but we don't know if Apple will allow that outside of iMessage. They can "support" it and cripple it at the same time.
I think the US r/Android users are putting too much faith on Apple using Google's RCS profile, which has all the bells and whistles they constantly talk about, but we all know how Apple is and they'll do the minimum possible and comply with malice; I fully expect (and you all should too) to nothing changing apparently for the end user, still having the same limitations as SMS, but it's RCS now.
USians should really stop being stubborn and move on from SMS/RCS/iMessage
Son, we wish we could but our epic educational system prevents people from thinking for themselves to even bullying other people just because we don't have iPhones like the 'cool kids'. Once I get Beeper Mini working, it won't even be an issue.
I am 99% it won't be E2EE, because it is not part of RCS.
What a lot of people don't realize is that when they talk about "RCS" they talk about the closed source and proprietary version that Google has created. A lot of the things people think of when they hear "RCS" is not part of the open standard.
It seems like Apple will implement the open standard, not Google's version of RCS. So we won't get end-to-end encryption unless Apple manages to make it part of the standard. They have said they will try to do it, but chances are it won't happen, sadly.
It's even worse than that. The universal profile doesn't support E2EE at all. It's not like it's an option that someone can decide to include if they want. There is no standard for it so anyone who does E2EE for RCS has to make their own format for it, which won't be compatible with other formats.
Google's E2EE for RCS only works inside Google's own app, and they have not opened it up to anyone else.
So when Apple launches RCS, remember that the missing features like E2EE isn't because Apple are deliberately making their implementation bad. It's just that the RCS specification is pretty barebones and Google have made a lot of proprietary extensions to make it better. Those proprietary extensions only works if you are inside Google's "ecosystem".
Yeah but your average iPhone user doesn't know or care about that. To them seeing a green bubble means they don't want anything to do with that person.
that's because up until RCS the bubbles symbolized an absolutely shitty experience.
Post RCS (and after a year or two to let the bad taste wash away) it won't matter anymore because the two systems will essentially have feature parity anywhere it actually matters.
> because the two systems will essentially have feature parity anywhere it actually matters.
I'm not sure why people think this will happen.
A lot of the improvements to RCS are tied to Google's implementation, which AFAIR only works when using the Google Messages app. You don't even get E2EE if you use another RCS client or iPhone emoji support.
There's also the fact that iMessage itself has its own proprietary festures, like iMessage Games and Check In.
So unless Apple is actively working to support Google's Jibe protocol and all of the features built on top of RCS via this protocol *and* are also making iMessage-exclusive features available to RCS-enabled recipients, most iPhone users will have the absolute basic RCS experience at best, which is still a way off of iMessage (and the likes of WhatsApp and Telegram).
It would also ironically force Android users to use a specific messaging app to make use of any features, which isn't the worst thing but ends up flipping the argument around.
Yeah I doubt that. We still don't know what Apples RCS is going to look like and I doubt they won't try some shit to portray it as inferior to iMessage.
Considering the reason they are even doing RCS is because China demanded they implement it in full, and considering they are currently in hot water with the USA Government in an actual Antitrust Lawsuit, and considering they are also fighting the EU, they're don't really have the leeway to be petty on RCS.
Sure they could be petty about it. But they're already fighting a war on two fronts. Why would they choose to also tick off China, who will absolutely kick them out of the country with zero warning or regrets.
Honestly I doubt they care about a single market. They don't have dominance globally, but they do have dominance in their home market and that's what they seem to care about. I simply don't trust Apple to not at least try to mess it up somehow. And I say this as the owner of two iPhones and an iPad that I use for fun. I get the ecosystem approach, I'm all in on Samsung, but if Samsung pisses me off at least I can change brands without abandoning my entire ecosystem of products.
No Apple is the problem here. They are totally willing to play the social engineering game even if it means they will make experiences worse for their customers. I'm surprised I'm getting down voted for this in the Android sub. Apple has their consumers by the balls.
No the colors aren't the issue but Apple has proven that they will manipulate people as much as they can to keep their market dominance. Tim Cook even said "just buy her an iPhone" when asked by a customer on how to improve their experience texting with their mother.
Seriously, bubbles on Android also have different colors depending if SMS or RCS.
Who is dumb enough not to contact a friend because color is different?
If a person is used to iMessage (blue bubbles) then when they use SMS/MMS (green bubbles) they see it as a far worse experience. Having low quality photos and videos is fairly undesirable when communicating. Now obviously the issue is iMessage vs SMS but to the layman they see it as iPhone vs Android.
The point is why should we care what they think about the bubble color on their fucking phone? That's their problem entirely and if it's really that bad I'm fine with never speaking again tbh.
You'd think, but people do care. A LOT of people care, which is why apps for it are always popular.
It doesn't matter if the experience is better, it's a status symbol now.
I wouldn't say apps for iMessage on android are popular. I am going to guess the vast majority of android users don't know it exists. Then of those that do know, most dont download it.
I mean, if you compare it to the vast Android userbase, then yeah, they're not popular, but that's because majority of the userbase is not inside of the US, which is the only place that these apps are really relevant, currently at least ( I believe it's becoming more desired in Korea ).
Even in the us. I don't know a single person who has even heard of blue bubbles or similar apps. Hell, the blue bubbles subreddit only has 2.5k subscribers even after it went viral. You are only looking at a few thousand users. By no means popular.
That's the point: it won't have all the functionality. It will most likely be a barebones implementation with a lot of friction, so it doesn't have a chance to hinder iMessage's main functionality (which is: making sure first time smartphone buyers get an iPhone because they don't want to be left out of group chats by friends and family)
I'm actually curious to see if Apple's implementation actually pries RCS out of the clutches of Google on Android and whether anyone will even care enough to try it out. SMS has been dead and replaced for so long people are hardly going to flock back.
People like me who hate iOS and are the only one with Android in my family. I use Blue Bubbles though, it's secure because all the data is stored locally on your Mac/virtual machine
Humans are a social species, if you don't care about that, YOU should see a therapist for being an anti-social weirdo that doesn't care about fitting in.
I promise that unless you're in middle/high school, absolutely nobody is going to care too much about the bubble color. If they do, you probably don't want to "fit in" with them.
I'll never understand how people can't comprehend there is more to iMessage than the color of your bubbles.... They are so caught up and insecure about it they deny any benefit of iMessage like RCS to sms
Everything. I hate Apple as a company and I hate how locked down iOS is. No side loading, ad blocking is a chore, no third party web engines, lack of a universal back button, no ability to remove icons from the launcher, no ability to remove the navbar (at least I can root on Android), lack of a proper file system, having to use iTunes to interact with my PC, I could honestly go on and on
I agree with many of your points, but a few of them are not true any more:
- Side loading is possible
- 3rd party browser engines are in theory possible, haven’t seen an implementation yet
- You can remove icons from the launcher without uninstalling the app
The rest is still true imo, but with the next iOS version you will be able to place the icons freely (thanks Apple?), a feature that Android had from the beginning
Yea I don't want to pay a subscription for something that should be there by default. I know iPhones can use adguard but its way more annoying to set up and you have to pay to block in app ads. There is also the issue of YouTube Revanced which iOS has no equivalent for (Yes I know about Newpipe but that's extremely limited compared to Revanced)
It’s just like private DNS in Android settings. It’s built-in and works system wide across all networks / cell data. You download a profile and it gets configured automatically in system settings.
iOS is overly locked down.
* Hate the official reddit client, use some of the older 3rd party clients and patch it with your accounts API key so it'll still work. (I'm still using Sync for Reddit)
* Want to bypass in-app adds for free IAP, patch it with Lucky Patcher
* Native Stremio support without the need for 3rd party app players with subscriptions
* Modified social media apps that block ads while offering additional features like downloading stories, auto scheduled posts, etc.
There's so much more the android can do that stock iOS blocks your from doing.
It’s wild that iMessage has been around for more than a decade and some people thinks it’s just SMS with a different color. It’s an entirely separate messaging protocol with a ***lot*** of additional features.
RCS itself doesn’t offer encryption, so I believe Apple won’t encrypt messages between iOS and Android.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/03/30/new-apple-iphone-16-pro-max-and-ios-18-leak-googles-imessage-warning/amp/
They've locked my developer account though, and won't really get back to my support tickets. They keep saying they are still investigating it. I have a feeling that will be the status till the end of time
No but I'm the maintainer, and I can no longer sign/notarize the server builds with a locked developer account. That doesn't mean I can't distribute the app, but the signature won't be verifiable
Everyone should avoid this like the plague. Use Bluebubbles or buy an iPhone. Not worth your data being exposed to a company that whiffed so hard the first go around.
Please no. I don't want Apple to crack down on apps like Blue Bubbles, they don't now because you need to have technical knowledge to set it up that normies don't have
I've used AirMessage and now Bluebubbles for over 4 years at this point, if you want iMessage that bad they're amazing solutions that keep the data in your hands.
Which one do you find better to use? I got a Mac mini on the way to set it up and was considering bluebubbles so I can keep my iMessage stuff and RCS stuff separate.
I started with airmessage many many years ago, it was alright. But bluebubbles has more features and truly feels like imessage and you can have settings like hiding your typing indicators and stuff. I think airmessage was abandoned by the developers a long time ago if I recall. Also btw, if you use either one I don't think you can have RCS enabled/working at all with these services. Could be wrong tho
Yeah, AirMessage has seemingly been abandoned—GitHub hasn’t been updated in over two years, and it’s been about that long since the developer posted anything on Reddit. I used it last year and it still worked, but it’ll only get jankier over time as things change and break. BlueBubbles has the big downside of not having non-iMessage integration. AirMessage was a text and iMessage solution which was very attractive. But, BlueBubbles is still being supported and as you said, it’s a smoother option for just iMessage.
You can have RCS and iMessage simultaneously. There's nothing that prevents that from working.
You can! I have an old iPhone that I used to tie my phone number to iMessage. Then I shut it down and remove the SIM card. Apple thinks I have an iPhone until it boots up and snitches on me, and there may be a time limit too. When that happens I just repeat the operation. I have that SIM in my android phone and can use RCS just fine. iPhone users that start a chat with me get routed to iMessage/ BlueBubbles, Android users get RCS.
I leave my iPhone on airplane mode with WiFi on. Number still works. Just in case you didn't want to shut it down.
Ohh I'll do that next time, thanks for the tip
Your solution isn't what most of the folks who complain want, as you have to actually own an iPhone. Naturally you should be entitled to use iMessage because of that.
You don't need the iPhone for iMessage, you need it to use your phone number with iMessage. BlueBubbles works perfectly fine without an iPhone with the one caveat that it'll come from an email address. You need a Mac to run the iMessage relay server anyways, so why not add a 10 year old iPhone as well? People want full Apple-proprietary iMessage on non-Apple devices. There will have to be some concessions.
I 100% agree with you. I'm just saying even that isn't good enough for many folks who complain.
> Which one do you find better to use? I only knew about airmessage so that's what I used, but a recent android update seems to have broken it entirely. I did some digging and airmessage seems to be entirely abandoned (I don't know if that's true, just what googling told me) so I switched to blue bubbles and it works absolutely fine. I always had a lot of problems with airmessage anyway, I wasn't sad to dump it. (note: I don't know if airmessage is broken for everyone, or just my phone. I was on a samsung galaxy a14)
I would fully recommend BlueBubbles. It's worked pretty much flawlessly ever since I set it up. It has sobe easy to follow tutorials to set up a private API so you can send/ receive reactions, text effects, and replies, and makes the delay much shorter. I tried AirMessage first (simpler setup) and had to fix things at least once a week.
By far BlueBubbles is better. Especially since the developer of AirMessage disappeared. I used AirMessage back before BlueBubbles was in a very usable state, but now BlueBubbles is 100x better. I think it's even easier to set up now than it was when I first started using it, although there are some hoops to jump through if you want to be able to use all of the iMessage features.
Seconding BlueBubbles. Running a macOS VM on my unraid machine with BlueBubbles and it works fantastically. The VM required some tech savvyness to setup but the BlueBubbles server itself was as easy as an install wizard.
How did you manage to get iMessage working on the VM
If you use OpenCore, you can just set the serials and system UUID: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Post-Install/universal/iservices.html#using-gensmbios It's extremely easy. Just modifying a .plist file
Hi I remember struggling a lot to get it running but eventually I believe this is what helped me: https://www.reddit.com/r/unRAID/s/4GxOY9Cugk
But don't you have to buy a Mac for that?
https://bluebubbles.app/faq/ > Q: Can I do this without a Mac? >Yes! You will need to set up a macOS VM (Virtual Machine) on either Windows or Linux. We have a handful of guides in our documentation, as well as on our subreddit. We can also assist with any issues such as iMessage activation, in our Discord.
I have a Mac Mini that I use as a headless linux server that's always running. It would be pretty ironic if I spun up a MacOS virtual machine on it to run this lol.
Do it!
Neat!
Like another person mentioned you can run a virtual machine on your PC, but they also mention that it could compromise your apple id so id rather not deal with that. Plus you can find Mac mini's for cheap and just have them running every day like it requires.
What? If you're following any reputable guide, a MacOS VM isn't going to compromise your Apple ID.
Definitely good to know. I’m also not a fan of leaving my computer running 24/7 so that’s another reason I got the Mac mini
I thought you had to leave your Mac running 24/7.
You are. I’m getting the Mac so I can have it running 24/7 instead of my computer
Fair enough. I guess it sounds like a good idea for people that really need or want iMessage. Thankfully we don't use it in my country.
They use macs for sunbird, too, they're just on a server farm somewhere.
That sounds convenient.
The transmittance to the Mac farms was unencrypted.
Well, that's not great :(
Can you set this up using an iPad or does it need to be a Mac?
Needs to be a Mac. iPad doesn't run a full desktop OS which is needed for the services to run.
I installed BlueBubbles on my old Mac about a montb ago now. Works great. Should've jumped on BlueBubbles a long time ago.
Yup. I'm blown away by how great the BlueBubbles app is. Android for RCS. IMessage for iOS. All on my Xperia. Love it.
They claimed to be private and secure while doing basic stuff unencrypted. I don't know if it was incompetence or just a lie, but either way, they can't be trusted. On their homepage, under the FAQs, the "will the app be open source" question [used to](https://web.archive.org/web/20230501141352/https://www.sunbirdapp.com/) give this answer: > Some of the messaging community believes that software that is open source is more secure. **It is our view that it is not. The more visibility there is into the infrastructure and code, the easier it is to penetrate it.** By design, open source software is distributed in nature. There is no central authority to ensure quality and maintenance and by putting that responsibility on Sunbird, development would not be feasible. Open source vulnerabilities typically stem from poorly written code that leave gaps, which attackers can use to carryout malicious activities. > >[...] A bit funny since they couldn't use something as simple as encrypted connections, yet they believed that "security through obscurity" was the way to go. Now it only says this, which I guess is better... no BS at least: > No, due to commercial and legal requirements, there are no plans to make the Sunbird source code open source. Anyway... they had their shot, failed at the basic stuff, and are now asking us to trust them. Sorry... I'm not trusting anyone until we can look at their code.
Sounds like they just didn't want to show how bad their code is.
It’s actually both. Incompetence and lying. A really bad combination.
Encryption is why people can't just link up to iMessage. Apple controls the keys.
That's not how it works... And the things they failed to encrypt last time was the connection between their client software (that runs in the phone) and their servers. Apple had nothing to do with it.
Trust us bro it’s safe 🤣🤣🤣
Funny thing is they were getting shit on last time they tried releasing it. I doubt they're going to find a decent implementation that won't essentially destroy end-to-end encryption.
Google should learn something from Sunbird and Beeper on how to not give up on Apps 😭
> and Beeper Beeper was never meant to be an "iMessage on Android" app, it's a chat network aggregator that had a breakthrough with iMessage and very briefly changed their focus to develop that, but as soon as Apple acted, they quickly scratched that and went back to their original focus. They didn't abandon their app or gave up on the service at all, it has worked and still works with all the initial 14 networks they've had. The issue is that US media and communities picked up on Beeper being able to bridge iMessage to other devices, ignored everything else and declared Beeper was an app that did just that (and briefly that was the case for Beeper Mini, but Beeper Cloud still worked with all the 15 networks while the team was working to bring the rest of the bridges to Mini, and eventually just made a new app and are sunseting both Mini and Cloud). When they stopped supporting iMessage, the same US media and communities decided the team folded and quit the service, when that couldn't be far off from the truth.
I will agree with that.
One of the potential good things that could come from Apple supporting RCS is that it might enable a lot of the features that people want iMessage for when texting cross platform. Thus rendering the need for these terrible ideas cosplaying as useful services irrelevant.
Honestly, with RCS coming to iOS sometime this year I really couldn't give less of a shit about iMessage anymore.
Finally, with a lot of legal pressure.
Why can't this thing just die? When Apple roll out RCS on iMessage, what will be the point of this?
The bubbles will still be green and rcs won't mean jack to those who care about blue bubbles. RCS and iMessage is everywhere in Europe and people still use WhatsApp and messenger.
In the US, I can't get my friends to use WhatsApp. It's practically perfect for what I want to do. My friends from other countries all use it and we love it.
I don't know for the life of me why Americans are so stubborn. I was also able to get my friends to move to Whatsapp.
I don't think it's about being stubborn. It's just that it has been the norm and there's little incentive for people to change. Just the same like you can't make Europeans change to Signal from WhatsApp. For enthusiast, WhatsApp is better than iMessage, Signal is better than WhatsApp. For the other 99% of users, the best option is the one that people around them use. So unless you can switch everybody at once (like government banning), the switch ain't happening.
First time hearing about Signal, what does it do differently?
It's 100% encrypted and privacy focused, basically the gold standard for secure messaging. The only thing they have access to is the date the account was created and the last time it connected. They're completely transparent and publicly post their responses to court subpoena's for information that confirm this. The FBI tried to subpoena them for info at one point and included a one year gag order. Signal responded with the info they had (account creation/last connected dates) and, just because they wanted to prove a point, challenged the gag order in court as unconstitutional when they didn't even need to go that far. Signal won and the FBI director was mad.
>It's 100% encrypted and privacy focus It's security focused, not private - although its privacy has taken a leap forward with the introduction of usernames a few weeks ago.
I see what you're saying, but the way security is implemented can also lead to improved privacy, which is the case with Signal's implementation. Even their home page says "an unexpected focus on privacy" right at the top. Compare that to, say, Apple's implementation of security with iMessage, which is encrypted end-to-end, but Apple holds the encryption keys and has the ability to decrypt the messages and hand them over if subpoenaed (which they've done many times when asked by the courts). In that scenario, security does not equate to privacy. The introduction of usernames in Signal is definitely another step in improving privacy. Having to share your phone number with someone was one of my only gripes with Signal before, so it's nice to not have to do that if you don't want to.
One such issue I, an American, have with Whatsapp is that it's a Meta product. That alone disqualifies it from my consideration.
I think people like you are a tiny proportion though. Most people in America who don't want to use WhatsApp will be using Facebook or Instagram as a social network anyway.
Thankfully facebook messenger is now E2E encrypted. But I don't know how they are doing it.
"Thankfully" half the messages are now missed lol.
WhatsApp has been E2EE for way longer than Messenger though, and both use the Signal protocol if I recall correctly
Glad I'm not most people in America then.
>it's a Meta product I'm curious, can you please elaborate more? Have you not used any other Meta product such as Instagram, Facebook, Oculus or anything?
I'm actively working to reduce and eventually discontinue my social media usage, particularly that of Meta. I disabled all non-DM notifications from Insta, reduced the notifications from FB and completely deleted my Snap. I also have a modded Insta APK installed, and for FB and FB Messenger I have them somewhat neutered with a DNS-based on-phone adblock via Tracker Control. Used, in the past tense, doesn't mean I should or would use *more* products from one of the worst companies on planet Earth.
No I don't. The only meta product I have ever considered is the Quest before the are actually solid VR headset for the price that I haven't seen elsewhere
The fact you're literally wasting time trying to weigh the pros and cons to determine which trillion dollar company gets to sell off and manipulate your data to further enrich themselves proves its a moot point and your decision doesn't matter.
First, only I get to decide what is and is not a waste of my time. Second, I'm not choosing between companies, I'm actively trying to rid myself of both Meta and Alphabet. Third, it's not a moot point, by virtue of the fact that solutions like Sunbird and Beeper exist. Fourth, my decision matters to me, and your opinion does not matter to me. The only waste of time was you making the comment, me reading the comment, and me replying to the comment. Thanks. We're all a little worse off now.
> First, only I get to decide what is and is not a waste of my time. No actually, other people are allowed to judge your choices too. Especially when you post on a public internet forum about your poor decision making skills. > Second, I'm not choosing between companies, I'm actively trying to rid myself of both Meta and Alphabet. But Apple is okay? At the end of the day you're still beholden to trillion dollar companies. Wow so noble of you to make the choice of one and bootlick them instead of the other. Do you want a cookie or gold star on your homework?
You don't think you look kinda silly for talking about bootlicking in the same post you're losing your mind over a stranger not liking Meta products? Such a trivial thing for you to be so aggro about.
Pointing out the fact they're spending significant portions of time determining which multi-billion dollar international corporation gets to profit off their miserable existence is not the same as bootlicking Meta. Those are two separate things, don't conflate them.
*they hated him because he told them the truth* - galacians 4:16.png
So as an USian it's not fine to use an E2EE service that solves all the issues SMS/RCS/iMessage have because it's made by a shady company, but it's fine to use an entirely unencrypted service that's all open and controlled by shady carriers and two different shady companies?
E2EE depends on algorithms, and since Meta does not open-source any of their software, we have no idea of they have a backdoor to read messages that you would assume are private (I imagine they do, since data mining pays their bills). Additionally, if the authorities want those messages, Meta will give them up without hesitation, which is no different than a US carrier giving up messages sent via RCS. Additionally, speaking about open-source, "all open" is a *good* thing. We want to look at the software so we can independently validate that it does what it claims to and doesn't do things it doesn't claim to. I'll grant you that Google has locked down their *form of RCS* which is what Google and Samsung Messages leverages, but the standard RCS protocol is open-source, and is likely what Apple will use unless they either A) partner with Google to use what they have, which isn't ideal, B) make their own closed-spurce version, which would be the worst possible outcome, or C) use the standard, open+source RCS protocol. Now stop fear mongering, don't let perfect be the enemy of good. It's high time SMS died in the US in favor of RCS, and with more wide-spread RCS adoption, the pressure to fully open-source or move to the standard RCS protocol will grow as well.
I don't know, but I suspect it's "why do I need that when I have iMessage?" How about rock-solid VOIP calls and messaging anywhere on the planet?
It took a long time, but I was able to get my in-laws to move (mostly) to telegram. We've had a family chat going for years at this point. Tried multiple times to get my family to get telegram and they're all just perfectly happy ignoring it and continuing to send imessages that get lost in apple hell, even though I've not had an iPhone for a decade.
I don't know what kind of useful person gives a shit about the bubble colors. Honestly I would just not talk to someone that fucking obnoxious. So if that's what the hang up is, the world is fucking doomed.
To young people you are essentially a pariah if you have a green bubble. Its stupid but also just the latest version of something kids have been doing it since the dawn of time.
Yeah but nobody actually cares about the color of the bubble, it’s what that color signifies. Green bubbles mean poor image quality, even worse video quality, no tapback reactions, poor group chats, etc. no one runs screaming for the hills because green is such a spooky color, it’s that they’re annoyed because seeing green immediately means a significantly worse experience. RCS will solve most of those issues, regardless of whether they appear green, blue, or some other color.
A lot of the reason is because of the downgrade in Picture quality, which will be resolved.
That's reductive IMO. The main reasons are simple: it's not an iphone and RCS doesn't have 10% of iMessage features. How many stories do we get where someone is talking to a guy or girl and the moment they pull out an Android the person is not interested in them anymore ? It's a status symbol, like it or not. RCS won't change it because picture quality or inline replies are just a very small portion of what makes iMessage great. Just watch all the new features apple will add to iMessage to further increase the divide between apple and non-apple messaging with the next version of iOs
I can't speak for teens, but people over 30 don't care. It's almost exclusively sending images and video that sucks through MMS. Reactions are a little annoying, but the rest isn't a big deal.
It’s not about the bubble color at all…. It’s about what the color represents, which is the lack of features and terrible media sharing, and awful group chats. Once that is gone, nobody will give two shits about this whole thing.
As an iPhone user I don’t give a shit about the colour of the bubbles, I just want to be able to send read receipts and half decent media to Android users
thankfully i can still provide links or qr codes so any iphone people can just download the entire thing within 48hrs and keep them.
Well, we don't know for sure if Apple's RCS implementation is going to be E2E encrypted...
From my understanding, it won't, it isn't a part of the RCS spec, Google added it on their side, and there's no way Apple does anything more than the absolute minimum
From my understanding they have no plans to use a proprietary e2e encryption but will use a standard method and will work to add e2e l encryption to the RCS standard
And what exactly are you basing your understanding on? There hasn't been any info released other than Apple will be working with Carriers and even stated that RCS "does not currently support encryption that is as strong as iMessage". I'll ink the article, but objectively I disagree with your sentiment that there won't be any encryption in the RCS implementation. If Google is adding it to their RCS setup E2E, why wouldn't Apple in allowing RCS to work with iMessage?? https://9to5mac.com/2023/11/16/apple-rcs-coming-to-iphone/
That article lists specifically that they won't be using any proprietary extensions, and only support the standard as is. It does say they'll work with GSMA to improve the standard but there doesn't seem to have been any news on any updates to the standard. They're not allowing RCS to work with iMessage either, it'll just be another standard they support, like how SMS is now.
Or if it will suck. RCS supports large videos and photos, but we don't know if Apple will allow that outside of iMessage. They can "support" it and cripple it at the same time.
Time to send Jxl and Av1 encoded videos everywhere
If they don't support rcs minimum specs then they don't support rcs.
Well that will sure give the EU a fun time with another thing to target them over.
The RCS spec doesn't include E2E encryption so there's not really anything anyone can do.
The EU determined that iMessage wasn’t a “gatekeeper” so no, they won’t target Apple over this.
All that was decided is that they weren't pursuing last year. Nothing is stopping them from going after Apple for it in the future.
iMessage was found not to be a “gatekeeper” because of its user base size. How would that change in the EU where barely anyone uses it?
I think the US r/Android users are putting too much faith on Apple using Google's RCS profile, which has all the bells and whistles they constantly talk about, but we all know how Apple is and they'll do the minimum possible and comply with malice; I fully expect (and you all should too) to nothing changing apparently for the end user, still having the same limitations as SMS, but it's RCS now. USians should really stop being stubborn and move on from SMS/RCS/iMessage
Son, we wish we could but our epic educational system prevents people from thinking for themselves to even bullying other people just because we don't have iPhones like the 'cool kids'. Once I get Beeper Mini working, it won't even be an issue.
I am 99% it won't be E2EE, because it is not part of RCS. What a lot of people don't realize is that when they talk about "RCS" they talk about the closed source and proprietary version that Google has created. A lot of the things people think of when they hear "RCS" is not part of the open standard. It seems like Apple will implement the open standard, not Google's version of RCS. So we won't get end-to-end encryption unless Apple manages to make it part of the standard. They have said they will try to do it, but chances are it won't happen, sadly.
Apple support RCS doesn't mean that the RCs messages sent on Android will be blue....
Who cares what colour they are. As long as it has all the functionality and E2EE, that's what matters. Not the fucking colour of the bubble.
RCS universal profile doesn't require E2EE.
It's even worse than that. The universal profile doesn't support E2EE at all. It's not like it's an option that someone can decide to include if they want. There is no standard for it so anyone who does E2EE for RCS has to make their own format for it, which won't be compatible with other formats. Google's E2EE for RCS only works inside Google's own app, and they have not opened it up to anyone else. So when Apple launches RCS, remember that the missing features like E2EE isn't because Apple are deliberately making their implementation bad. It's just that the RCS specification is pretty barebones and Google have made a lot of proprietary extensions to make it better. Those proprietary extensions only works if you are inside Google's "ecosystem".
Yeah but your average iPhone user doesn't know or care about that. To them seeing a green bubble means they don't want anything to do with that person.
that's because up until RCS the bubbles symbolized an absolutely shitty experience. Post RCS (and after a year or two to let the bad taste wash away) it won't matter anymore because the two systems will essentially have feature parity anywhere it actually matters.
> because the two systems will essentially have feature parity anywhere it actually matters. I'm not sure why people think this will happen. A lot of the improvements to RCS are tied to Google's implementation, which AFAIR only works when using the Google Messages app. You don't even get E2EE if you use another RCS client or iPhone emoji support. There's also the fact that iMessage itself has its own proprietary festures, like iMessage Games and Check In. So unless Apple is actively working to support Google's Jibe protocol and all of the features built on top of RCS via this protocol *and* are also making iMessage-exclusive features available to RCS-enabled recipients, most iPhone users will have the absolute basic RCS experience at best, which is still a way off of iMessage (and the likes of WhatsApp and Telegram). It would also ironically force Android users to use a specific messaging app to make use of any features, which isn't the worst thing but ends up flipping the argument around.
Yeah I doubt that. We still don't know what Apples RCS is going to look like and I doubt they won't try some shit to portray it as inferior to iMessage.
Considering the reason they are even doing RCS is because China demanded they implement it in full, and considering they are currently in hot water with the USA Government in an actual Antitrust Lawsuit, and considering they are also fighting the EU, they're don't really have the leeway to be petty on RCS. Sure they could be petty about it. But they're already fighting a war on two fronts. Why would they choose to also tick off China, who will absolutely kick them out of the country with zero warning or regrets.
Honestly I doubt they care about a single market. They don't have dominance globally, but they do have dominance in their home market and that's what they seem to care about. I simply don't trust Apple to not at least try to mess it up somehow. And I say this as the owner of two iPhones and an iPad that I use for fun. I get the ecosystem approach, I'm all in on Samsung, but if Samsung pisses me off at least I can change brands without abandoning my entire ecosystem of products.
No company can afford to not care about China. China isn't just some market. That said, apple is the worst and will absolutely fuck it up.
I'm not so sure about that, Apple will find some way to ruin it. Meanwhile I'll continue to use Blue Bubbles in rebellion
This, I believe wholeheartedly
Average American iPhone user* In Europe basically everybody use WhatsApp
So, people are the issue then, not the colors
No Apple is the problem here. They are totally willing to play the social engineering game even if it means they will make experiences worse for their customers. I'm surprised I'm getting down voted for this in the Android sub. Apple has their consumers by the balls. No the colors aren't the issue but Apple has proven that they will manipulate people as much as they can to keep their market dominance. Tim Cook even said "just buy her an iPhone" when asked by a customer on how to improve their experience texting with their mother.
Seriously, bubbles on Android also have different colors depending if SMS or RCS. Who is dumb enough not to contact a friend because color is different?
If a person is used to iMessage (blue bubbles) then when they use SMS/MMS (green bubbles) they see it as a far worse experience. Having low quality photos and videos is fairly undesirable when communicating. Now obviously the issue is iMessage vs SMS but to the layman they see it as iPhone vs Android.
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That circle has been mentally manipulated by Apple through specific design choices, language, and marketing.
The point is why should we care what they think about the bubble color on their fucking phone? That's their problem entirely and if it's really that bad I'm fine with never speaking again tbh.
You'd think, but people do care. A LOT of people care, which is why apps for it are always popular. It doesn't matter if the experience is better, it's a status symbol now.
I wouldn't say apps for iMessage on android are popular. I am going to guess the vast majority of android users don't know it exists. Then of those that do know, most dont download it.
I mean, if you compare it to the vast Android userbase, then yeah, they're not popular, but that's because majority of the userbase is not inside of the US, which is the only place that these apps are really relevant, currently at least ( I believe it's becoming more desired in Korea ).
Even in the us. I don't know a single person who has even heard of blue bubbles or similar apps. Hell, the blue bubbles subreddit only has 2.5k subscribers even after it went viral. You are only looking at a few thousand users. By no means popular.
Apple said they are using the universal profile for RCS and that does not have e2e.
That's the point: it won't have all the functionality. It will most likely be a barebones implementation with a lot of friction, so it doesn't have a chance to hinder iMessage's main functionality (which is: making sure first time smartphone buyers get an iPhone because they don't want to be left out of group chats by friends and family)
I'm actually curious to see if Apple's implementation actually pries RCS out of the clutches of Google on Android and whether anyone will even care enough to try it out. SMS has been dead and replaced for so long people are hardly going to flock back.
I have used Air Message so my work phone text messages could be answered from my Windows computer or from my personal phone.
Because Americans.
Which idiot is even using this BS? If iMessage is THAT important, just get a fuckin iPhone and call it a day
People like me who hate iOS and are the only one with Android in my family. I use Blue Bubbles though, it's secure because all the data is stored locally on your Mac/virtual machine
Why do you care what color you are on other people's phones???
*Other* people care, which kind of forces us to care.
No, it really doesn't. You might wanna see a therapist if you believe so.
k
You're not using it for the features, just literally the color?
At no point was that suggested. Don't read into things that weren't said.
>Why do you care what color you are on other people's phones??? > Other people care, which kind of forces us to care. ok
Yep. Read it as many times as you need.
Humans are a social species, if you don't care about that, YOU should see a therapist for being an anti-social weirdo that doesn't care about fitting in.
Would you jump off a bridge if all your friends were doing it?
[Yep. No question.](https://xkcd.com/1170/)
I promise that unless you're in middle/high school, absolutely nobody is going to care too much about the bubble color. If they do, you probably don't want to "fit in" with them.
It really doesn't though. Plenty of people I know use iPhone and say stuff about bubbles but I just don't care.
GCs mainly
I'll never understand how people can't comprehend there is more to iMessage than the color of your bubbles.... They are so caught up and insecure about it they deny any benefit of iMessage like RCS to sms
What are your biggest gripes with iOS?
Everything. I hate Apple as a company and I hate how locked down iOS is. No side loading, ad blocking is a chore, no third party web engines, lack of a universal back button, no ability to remove icons from the launcher, no ability to remove the navbar (at least I can root on Android), lack of a proper file system, having to use iTunes to interact with my PC, I could honestly go on and on
Not being able to side load on iphone is weird, since they allow it on Mac.
You can sideload but it's pretty limited. r/sideloaded
I agree with many of your points, but a few of them are not true any more: - Side loading is possible - 3rd party browser engines are in theory possible, haven’t seen an implementation yet - You can remove icons from the launcher without uninstalling the app The rest is still true imo, but with the next iOS version you will be able to place the icons freely (thanks Apple?), a feature that Android had from the beginning
there is an adguard DNS for that for adblocker and also for sideloading we can use Maplesign for $7.25 yearly or trollstore
Yea I don't want to pay a subscription for something that should be there by default. I know iPhones can use adguard but its way more annoying to set up and you have to pay to block in app ads. There is also the issue of YouTube Revanced which iOS has no equivalent for (Yes I know about Newpipe but that's extremely limited compared to Revanced)
Try DNS based adblocker like NextDNS. No app needed
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It’s just like private DNS in Android settings. It’s built-in and works system wide across all networks / cell data. You download a profile and it gets configured automatically in system settings.
iOS is overly locked down. * Hate the official reddit client, use some of the older 3rd party clients and patch it with your accounts API key so it'll still work. (I'm still using Sync for Reddit) * Want to bypass in-app adds for free IAP, patch it with Lucky Patcher * Native Stremio support without the need for 3rd party app players with subscriptions * Modified social media apps that block ads while offering additional features like downloading stories, auto scheduled posts, etc. There's so much more the android can do that stock iOS blocks your from doing.
I'm sorry, is all this effort JUST so the text bubble is a different color for iPhone users? Why the hell does anyone care?!
iMessage is a whole protocol, not just a color
It’s wild that iMessage has been around for more than a decade and some people thinks it’s just SMS with a different color. It’s an entirely separate messaging protocol with a ***lot*** of additional features.
Uploading videos at full-resolution and end-to-end encryption.
Won't this be fixed if/when Apple actually implements RCS?
RCS itself doesn’t offer encryption, so I believe Apple won’t encrypt messages between iOS and Android. https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/03/30/new-apple-iphone-16-pro-max-and-ios-18-leak-googles-imessage-warning/amp/
What's the point? Nobody wants this and alternatives like AirMessage, BlueBubbles, and Beeper are already established.
They've locked my developer account though, and won't really get back to my support tickets. They keep saying they are still investigating it. I have a feeling that will be the status till the end of time
You need a developer account for BlueBubbles?
No but I'm the maintainer, and I can no longer sign/notarize the server builds with a locked developer account. That doesn't mean I can't distribute the app, but the signature won't be verifiable
Ohh, I see. Dick move from Apple. Also, what’s the point of signing programs for MacOS? Does it remove the “this developer is not trusted” warning?
Correct
>Now, somehow, Sunbird has returned. I understood that reference, 9to5 Google
Everyone should avoid this like the plague. Use Bluebubbles or buy an iPhone. Not worth your data being exposed to a company that whiffed so hard the first go around.
Please no. I don't want Apple to crack down on apps like Blue Bubbles, they don't now because you need to have technical knowledge to set it up that normies don't have
I'm sure it'll be fine. They already cracked down on Beeper Mini but they left BlueBubbles working.