Android has had a problem with iMessage for a long time. In the US, the Apple-owned chat platform reigns supreme, particularly among adolescents. In fact, many Americans won’t switch for fear of the perceived social stigma that comes with the green chat bubbles that iMessage assigns to Android phone messages. Google has tried a few different things to convince Apple to open up the platform, including turning to the European Commission for regulatory relief. For most Android users, that means there’s been little they’ve been able to personally do about it. Until now.
Nothing tech/pages/nothing-chats”>Nothing Chats announced today, a messaging app that supports RCS and iMessage. Nothing Chats is based on sun birda unified messaging platform that has been available in closed beta since the end of last year. Sunbird allows users to access all their chats, including iMessage, from a single interface. Last April, the app had a waitlist of more than 100,000 entries long. Sunbird is one of the few apps that Android users can use to chat with their friends who promote their iPhone. The best known player in space is Locatorwhich is the brainchild of Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky.
With the launch of Chats on Friday, Nothing not only promises to allow Phone 2 owners to “camouflage” themselves as iPhone users. Out of the box, Chats will ship with support for many of iMessage’s unique features, including typing indicators, high-resolution media sharing, and proper group messaging. Read receipts and Tapback reactions will arrive at a later date. As mentioned above, Chats also supports RCS, which means you can also enjoy iMessage-like features when messaging your Android friends.
“We understand that the dilemma between the blue bubble and the green bubble, especially in North America, although it may seem ridiculous, is real. Nothing Chats allows freedom of communication between anyone, regardless of their smartphone brand, which is how it should be,” said Nothing CEO Carl Pei. “We want to remind consumers that they have a choice in their device and that their daily behaviors should not be dictated by a single company.”
So what is the problem? “No data is saved on the platform, so users don’t have to worry about their privacy,” Pei tech/nothing-chats-phone-2-app-turns-green-bubbles-blue-iphone”>said Reverse. But there are some concerns. Sunbird, like Beeper, employs a workaround that Apple does not officially support and that the company says almost certainly puts users at risk. nothing said Reverse Sunbird’s “proprietary” process for bringing iMessage to Android involves server farms of Mac minis that route a user’s messages to Apple.
Before someone can access iMessage in Nothing Chats, they must first sign in with their Apple ID through the Sunbird platform. nothing said Reverse All iMessage content sent through Chats is encrypted and “at no time can Sunbird access your messages or Apple ID.” Additionally, Nothing notes that the startup will delete a user’s Apple ID credentials after two weeks of inactivity. Still, if you decide to use Nothing Chats to access iMessage, you are effectively giving your Apple ID keys to a company other than Apple.
As for whether Nothing Chats will be long for this world: When asked about the possibility of Apple taking legal action against Nothing and Sunbird, Pei he told Marques Brownlee He thought the tech giant “probably wouldn’t do anything.”
In a separate interview with technology/2023/11/14/imessage-on-android-nothing-sunbird/”>Washington Post, Pei said Nothing has sold “around six figures” worth of Phone 2 devices in North America, Britain and Europe. In other words, it’s a small fish in a big pond. More importantly, Apple finds itself in a regulatory environment where attempting to shut down a platform that is opening up iMessage would draw the attention of regulators in the European Union and beyond.
Nothing Chats will be available to download from the Play Store starting November 17. At the moment, a Nothing Phone 2 is required to access the platform, with regional availability limited to the US, Canada, UK, EU, and other European countries. including Norway and Switzerland.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nothing-phone-2-is-getting-imessage-support-this-friday–with-some-catches-194655776.html?src=rss
