iMessage on Android: Nothing challenges Apple
Nothing wants to make Apple’s chat app iMessage usable on Android. However, this requires a workaround, which isn’t without its problems.
iMessage is very popular on the iPhone. It’s unclear whether the chat app could also be successful on Android. Apple makes sure that it only runs on devices sporting its logo. Previous attempts to make the chats usable on Android have ranged from purely makeshift to dubious. Nothing now wants to change this with Nothing Chat – but only on the Nothing Phone (2), not on all Android devices.
The story thus far
iMessage evolved from an SMS app to the standard tool for chatting on the iPhone. Apple regularly adds new functions to the app. With iOS 17, for example, a check-in function, search filters, the ability to display voice messages as text (only in English initially) and a central location for stickers were added. In addition, iMessage can be expanded with apps to include further features.
However, iMessage only works between iPhones. A different chat app is also required in iOS for communication with Android devices. Google has long been campaigning for Apple to open up to the RCS standard. With the RCS standard – let’s just call it a modernised SMS standard – iMessage wouldn’t become an Android app, it’d just be compatible with other messengers. Apple would retain the additional functions of iMessage exclusively.
What’s Nothing up to?
With Nothing Chats, the smartphone manufacturer wants to launch its own chat app. It’ll apparently be able to receive messages from iMessage and send them to Apple’s chat app too. This should make it easier for iPhone users to switch to Android, as they won’t have to do without iMessage.
The app’s user interface was developed my Nothing. In the background, technology from Sunbird will ensure that iMessage can reach Android.
Sunbird needs your iCloud data
Sunbird was presented in summer 2023 as a solution to get the iMessage blue bubbles on Android. However, the app is still in a closed test phase. It’s therefore unclear whether everything will work as promised.
To use iMessage chats with Sunbird, you need an Apple ID. You use this to log in to Sunbird, or in future to Nothing Chats. Sunbird then takes your login details, logs in on one of its Mac Minis and forwards iMessage content to your Android smartphone this way. The whole thing is supposed to work securely and stay encrypted, but it doesn’t really sound trustworthy to give others access to your own iCloud. Theoretically, Sunbird would give another service access to all your data in iCloud – not just iMessage chats.
So what’s next?
On Friday, 17 November 2023, Nothing will fully release Nothing Chats. The first exciting question will be: does it even work?
If Nothing and Sunbird really can bring iMessage – at least in part – to Android, what will Apple do about it? The iPhone manufacturer could take legal action or put a technological stop to Sunbird’s solution.
Regardless of the answers to these questions, Apple will have to open up in the future. In its Digital Market Act, the EU has stipulated that messenger operators dominating a market must offer functions for exchanging messages with competitors. How exactly and by when, however, isn’t explicitly specified. WhatsApp is preparing for this, and Apple will also be thinking about how it can open iMessage as little as possible to meet the EU’s requirements.
Header image: Jan Johannsen39 people like this article
As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus.
