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Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

arstechnica.com

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Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#151

Post by ryandvm »

aurareturn wrote: post #107
cozzyd wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm happy to hear about any other open standard that you think might be better. The key is interoperability.

What's broken about the current way messaging landscape is?

It's absurd. Imagine if it extended to voice calls. You could only talk to Apple users if you own an iPhone. Apple, and I guess you, would love it.

This is why we have regulated interoperability on many mass-market technologies. Imagine requiring a Ford to use certain gas stations or a Sony TV to view certain channels. There is no upside for the consumer when mass-market products leverage their popularity to create walled gardens.

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#152

Post by cassianoleal »

icy wrote: post #117

Looks like Nothing is partnering with a US-based third party called Sunbird to build this service. From Sunbird’s site ( https://sunbirdapp.com ): > Will the app be open source? > 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 sourc…

> Open source vulnerabilities typically stem from poorly written code that leave gaps, which attackers can use to carryout malicious activities.

So in their minds, closing the source automatically leads to well written code? And conversely, if they decide to open their (presumably well-written and secure) code in the future, it will somehow magically turn into poorly written and exploitable code? smh

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#153

Post by ghusto »

jwestbury wrote: post #147
SwiftyBug wrote: post #137

Is this a US specific thing? Why do people want to have their messages seen in blue bubbles so much? Why not just use another messaging app such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc?

Because iMessage seamlessly integrates into SMS/MMS, and very few Americans rely on alternative apps for their primary messaging platform. As for why blue bubbles? No idea. Best guess is it's seen as a status thing - green bubbles are non-iPhone users. The only other theory I have is that iMessage is cross-platform with other Apple devices, but that is a strong argument for other messaging apps IMO.

Then the question becomes: "_SMS?!_". Nobody in Europe uses SMS.

I think I've cracked it though. I've noticed that Apple's service inside the U.S.A. is different to the level of service they provide outside of it (briefly; it's better). This led to the 60%+ market share there, whilst the rest of the world is Android dominated.

iMessage was adding cool features, and it makes sense that if most people you know already have it, there's no reason to look at things like WhatsApp. The rest of the (Android dominated world) had to look for something else for the same fun, which is why WhatsApp is the de facto messaging platform in Europe.

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#154

Post by jtriangle »

daeros wrote: post #139
icy wrote: post #117

Looks like Nothing is partnering with a US-based third party called Sunbird to build this service. From Sunbird’s site ( https://sunbirdapp.com ): > Will the app be open source? > 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 sourc…

I take the opposite view, look no further than all the security holes in Microsoft Windows compared to Linux which is more difficult to actually maliciously hack that windows. Security by obscurity has failed every time it's been attempted. every. time.

Not to mention exploits for actively maintained open source projects don't last very long, and patches tend to work the first time.

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#155

Post by FalconSensei »

user_named wrote: post #108
aurareturn wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don't believe that. That's why I said it's a ridiculous idea.

You still don't get it. EU wants interoperable standards. Clear?

The thing is that in Europe people don't use iMessage or SMS. They use Whatsapp. So this problem is already solved there

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#156

Post by pseudalopex »

lloeki wrote: post #136
Ographer wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI for others, MKBHD just did a video on this and he warned that when using sunbird you are signing onto a physical mac mini somewhere, giving it access to your apple account which isn't great if you keep important things on there. https://youtu.be/ji5HwS3bhlU?si=2iW4zELhePyzV0rj

Short of someone having fully reverse-engineered iMessage I didn't see it any other way given the way it operates (e.g messages in browser). Their piece about E2E seems especially misleading. I can see how it's "technically true" i.e it's E2E from their servers to the clients + iMessage being E2E itself, but consistent omission of what the E are sounds designed to mislead into thinking that it's device to device. The…

> I can see how it's "technically true" i.e it's E2E from their servers to the clients

This is not E2E. Their servers are the middle. Not an end.

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#157

Post by xyst »

I would be cautious of using this with an Apple ID that has any purchases or oauth sign ins. Could be a EULA violation. Then suddenly lose access to all data. No recourse. Thanks, Walled In environment!

Also I wonder if there is any feature disparity between nothing/songbird and iMessage. In my experience, dealing with these bridges is far from perfect. Especially if one or more of them is closed source like imessage. Never know when a change will happen and break your flows

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#158

Post by FalconSensei »

4death4 wrote: post #18
theodric wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What on Earth would drive that perception? Do iOS users prefer dating other people who will spend lots of money on a status symbol? This sounds like nothing but a thinly-veiled attempt at discrimination based on an assumed level of wealth. (Which, if you've priced out Pixels lately, is not at all accurate.)

Do you really think iOS users view iPhones as a status symbol? That seems like a major incompatibility right there.

I think many people do, but not everyone. Wife and I use iPhones because we prefer iOS and for us the experience is better

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#159

Post by FalconSensei »

ryandvm wrote: post #151
aurareturn wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's broken about the current way messaging landscape is?

It's absurd. Imagine if it extended to voice calls. You could only talk to Apple users if you own an iPhone. Apple, and I guess you, would love it. This is why we have regulated interoperability on many mass-market technologies. Imagine requiring a Ford to use certain gas stations or a Sony TV to view certain channels. There is no upside for the consumer when mass-market products leverage their popularity to create w…

You can send a SMS to iPhone users, and they'll see that in iMessage.

If you want a group chat with friends, there are a bunch of apps for that. If your friends wants those cool features but refuse to use any one of existing apps besides iMessage to talk to you, then they are not your friends.

Re: Nothing Phone says it will hack into iMessage, bring blue bubbles to Android

#160

Post by FalconSensei »

acdha wrote: post #52
gizajob wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android users don't, but apple users do. Part of Apple's "moat". It might seem trivial to you, but people do care about such things.

It’s an Android thing – Apple users are just getting on with their lives, most people outside of the US use an app like WhatsApp, WeChat, or Telegram (iMessage isn’t even in the top 5 globally). Google is pouring millions into a big marketing campaign trying to get people to think of green bubbles as inferior because they’ve accepted catastrophically botching their messaging play and are hoping to get the EU to bail…

IMHO, you can tell that Google's also at fault because there's no Android messaging besides SMS. Android users outside of US (where SMS is not used) have to rely on Whatsapp/Line/Kakaotalk/Facebook Messenger.

If Android had invested in that, they would have something that's very commonly used in everywhere except US.

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