Flying too close to the sun — Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android Upstart Android OEM hopes Apple won’t immediately shut the project down.

Ron Amadeo – Nov 14, 2023 11:47 pm UTC Enlarge / The Nothing Phone 2 all lit up. Ron Amadeo reader comments 174 with

Can an Android OEM really just hack its way into Apple’s iMessage? That is the hard-to-believe plan from upstart phone manufacturer “Nothing,” which says the new “Nothing Chats” will allow users to use “iMessage on Android” complete with a blue bubble sent to all their iPhone friends.

Nothing Chat will be powered by Sunbird, an app developer that has claimed to be able to send iMessage chats for about a year now, with no public launch. According to a Washington Post article with quotes from the CEOs of Nothing and Sunbird, Nothing will “start” rolling out “an early version” of Nothing Chats with iMessage compatibility on Friday. The only catch, supposedly, is that you’ll need a Nothing Phone 2.

Is this for real or a publicity stunt? Apple is on record saying that iMessage on Android would only serve to weaken Apple, and it doesn’t want to do that. Surely, any Android OEM offering “iMessage” support would immediately have the project shut down by Apple.

The quotes in the Post article from Nothing and Sunbird come across as a dare more than anything else. Nothing CEO Carl Pei told the paper, Theres nothing illegal about this setup. I think whatever we do is gonna be passed along within Cupertino, but were so small that it will look really bad if Apple takes any action. Sunbird CEO Danny Mizrahi added, We dont see a scenario where Apple tries to, or can, block these messages. Apples focus has openly been on providing the best experience to their end users and both Nothing Chats and Sunbird help with that.

It’s hard to believe something like this could be a long-running service, and it seems destined to be immediately shut down. The many red flags of Sunbird

Sunbird has claimed to be able to send iMessages on Android for a long time, has missed its deadline for launch, and generally doesn’t come off as a serious company. The company announced itself to the world with the promise of iMessage on Android during a press briefing in December 2022. I attended this meeting and did not write about it because Sunbird’s suspect presentation did not meet my standards for a story. To me, the purpose of a press meeting like this would be to overcome the skepticism about the claim that you could imperviously, permanently hack into iMessage. Being honest with the press would have helped, but Sunbird refused to take open questions in its big debut. Sunbird’s PR person approved and asked all the questions, the Zoom chat was turned off, and the company didn’t answer a single one of the basic technical questions. Advertisement Enlarge / Sunbird’s app, which has never launched. Sunbird

How does Sunbird work? Why should people trust Sunbird with their ultra-important Apple account credentials, which contain some people’s entire online lives and, in some cases, a literal bank account? How are these credentials secured? Are they stored on Sunbird’s servers somewhere? Doesn’t hacking into iMessage with a third-party client violate Apple’s terms of service, possibly leading to an account ban? Won’t Apple just shut this down the instant you launch? These are all critical and obvious questions that were asked at the meeting, some of them by me, and they all went unanswered. Instead, the Sunbird people focused on how great it would be if the whole world could hold hands and share access to blue-colored chat bubbles. It wasn’t just ridiculousthe company completely failed to convince a skeptical listener that it was for real or acknowledge that there was any skepticism to overcome.

Further ReadingNothing Phone 2 hands-on: Pro-repair styling without the functionalityEven today, almost a year later, the company does not answer these questions in its FAQ. Sunbird has a “Privacy & Security” page that doesn’t answer anything about the privacy or security of your Apple credentials. This company just wants to hand-wave away any concerns. To me, without the company offering public, comprehensive explanations around Apple ID security, it seems hard to take it seriously. Page: 1 2 Next → reader comments 174 with Ron Amadeo Ron is the Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, where he specializes in Android OS and Google products. He is always on the hunt for a new gadget and loves to rip things apart to see how they work. He loves to tinker and always seems to be working on a new project. Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Previous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars