Apple has seemingly found a way to block Android’s new iMessage app

Comments

• gregorum@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  “Oh, what’s this unauthorized bullshit on our servers?”

  [block]

  source

  • wrath_of_grunge@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    same. there seems to be a lot of people that don't realize some things don't get done, not because they're impossible, but because as soon as they do it a company will put a stop to it.

    it's like cracking a Xbox or something. the very next patch will render the method obsolete and nonviable. when i heard this workaround was coming for Android, my immediate reaction was how long it would last before Apple just changed something so that it doesn't work.

    source

    • skeezix@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      My bum has a crack, can they fix that?

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • LinuxSBC@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Their hope was that they got close enough to an actual Apple device that breaking it would break Apple devices. It turns out they weren’t close enough, but they could be with a few improvements.

      source
  • Toes@ani.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Probably had to be extra careful to test. MDM software software might get glitched out.

    source
  • drislands@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I’m really curious about how it was detected, how it was different from Apple devices. If nothing else I’m looking forward to reading about how that all worked.

    source

    • AProfessional@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It is usually easy to detect a specific client. Like even if you ignore the keys there are dozens of little details like the TLS fingerprint of whatever library they use not matching iOS. Things that are easy to miss and sometimes hard to bypass. Then there are heuristics on how it is used is likely unique.

      source
    • LinuxSBC@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      From what I understand, their guess is that Apple is now checking if the device also has support for other services, such as FaceTime. Beeper Mini and pypush don’t pretend to support FaceTime, so it breaks.

      source
• drislands@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Can all the folks saying “I don’t care” on this just stop? If this doesn’t affect you, why are you commenting at all?

  Some smart folks managed to reverse engineer Apple’s secretive tech that they refuse to put on any platform they don’t own, which is fucking awesome. Even if you don’t give a shit about using iMessage, it’s awesome they were able to stick it to Apple at all, and make the gap between iPhone and Android that much smaller.

  And of course Apple comes in and breaks it. Do you not wonder why? Does this mean there was a minor security hole that was exploited or was it something else that changed? This arms race is fascinating, regardless of your preferred mobile OS.

  source

  • deweydecibel@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    We’re literally on a platform designed to escape these closed ecosystems and walled gardens. A platform built around open communication standards.

    And still there’s a downright bizarre contingent of people around here that seem to be chomping at the bit to defend or downplay Apple’s iMessage shit.

    source

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      That’s funny when most of the comments are saying “just use WhatsApp” as if that’s not a walled garden for messaging.

      source
    • willya@lemmyf.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’ve found the complete opposite in here. Outside of the apple communities but even those get trolled/downvoted from nerds browsing all like everything else.

      source
    • satan@r.nf ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      you’re on a platform someone else created with someone else’s money and someone else’s time. You’re just a entitled moron, who’s so far away from reality that you don’t know what goes on the real world and that joining the “fediverse” is going to magically fix every damn problem we’ve got.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • Eggyhead@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Isn’t RCS an open communication standard?

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • Mikey_donuts@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I read that it was a 16 year old kid which makes it more fascinating

    source
  • Dmian@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The “I don’t care” crowd could be the rest of the world, that use message apps instead of SMS or iMessages. Try to consider this factor first. Not everything should be centered in America, or exclusively to what happens there.

    source

    • drislands@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I understand that. But that doesn’t have anything to do with my point, which is that if someone doesn’t care about this issue, they don’t need to show how much they don’t care.

      In fact, I would argue that your general sentiment – that of considering others in different situations than oneself – applies more to the people acting like this topic doesn’t matter because it doesn’t affect them personally.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Rule no°1 on Reddit/Lemmy: Every user is part of the US unless stated different.

      source
    • helenslunch@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Not everything should be centered in America, or exclusively to what happens there.

      That’s literally the opposite of what’s happening.

      source
  • satan@r.nf ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Can all the folks saying “I don’t care” on this just stop? If this doesn’t affect you, why are you commenting at all?

    Haven’t you heard? Lemmings are all about “Stay alone in a basement and never get out and socialize, because people use something you don’t agree with. If they really want to talk to you, they’ll switch.”

    They didn’t, but now they’re on lemmy with more people with the same attitude, trying to socialize but never realizing why they don’t have any friends.

    Reddit migration brought all the entitled, self agrandizing, freeloading, weirdos to the fediverse.

    source

    • sour@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      people use something you can't use because walled garden

      source
• Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The fact that people care about whether their messages are blue or green is so absolutely ridiculous.

  I’ve known people who literally refuse to message anyone who doesn’t use iMessage (and by extension has an iPhone).

  Every one of them turned out to be a twat in every other facet of their personality as well.

  source

  • set_secret@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    yeah people should use this a a filter for people they should be avoiding.

    source

    • Joelk111@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      That’s what I’d do if I ever came across such a person. I haven’t had the pleasure yet fortunately.

      source
  • CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This reminds me of the blackberry ping days, everyone and their mom acting like a diva for having a sidekick blackberry just to use ping.

    Those were better days financially.

    source

    • WashedOver@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      BBM was the jam back in the days before iPhone. If you wanted to be in on the group chats you needed a blackberry. In the last little bit they opened it up to more devices but the gig was up.

      I still miss their icons.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s because it breaks all the nice extra functionality of iMessage. iMessage is closer to Discord, in that you can do things like react to messages, send live emojis, spoiler/emphasize text, edit sent messages, see when someone is typing, see read receipts, etc… But as soon as someone with an android joins the group chat, all of that goes out the window.

    source

    • paintbucketholder@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Is it intentionally hostile on Apple’s part to bar androids from joining? Yes. But the reactions from Apple users aren’t entirely unjustified

      The reaction from Apple users is to blame Android users - which is entirely unjustified.

      But of course, post purchase rationalization and brand loyalty play a big part in why people want to externalize blame rather than questioning their own decision or blaming their favorite company for providing a shitty cross-platform messaging experience.

      source
    • speeding_slug@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      So why not use something like WhatsApp or Signal instead then? Sounds like a terrible user experience to me. Nobody I know uses iMessage, everybody uses WhatsApp instead, which is platform agnostic.

      But I’m European, so the iPhone penetration is lower iirc and they can’t stay in their bubble as much.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • sour@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      is bullying justified

      source
  • WashedOver@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Yes had a business owner come in and demand all employee phones be iPhone or get out. Jobs was his personal hero and thought Apple could do no wrong. The issue was the company he bought was run on software made for Windows. A lot of extra effort went into making it work on macbooks he insisted we all use.

    In the end his he believed he was as great as Jobs. Not sure that’s a great role model across the board for those that know more than just the apple procducts. The family values and toxic with practices were not for everyone.

    I was glad to get out of that company and back to my android phone and now Linux computing.

    I will say the 3 good things about my iPhone was the camera, the full resolution media sharing with other iPhone users via iMessage, and the gallery uploading to other iOS devices.

    The latter two are still a weakness with Google. At least they are addressing it with RCS but its still going to take time. Google photos has cloud back up but I’ve not really looked into how seamless the media backup to all android devices has been.

    source

    • techwithjake@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Google photos is just cloud back up like iCloud backup for iOS devices.

      Google photos is also on iOS devices, so you could have your photos on any of your devices.

      source
  • excitingburp@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Apparently it breaks group chats, notwithstanding that it’s an Apple problem, Signal exists and doesn’t feature any of this nonsense.

    source

    • garretble@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’m in more than one group chat with android people, and it’s fine.

      It’s just that you can’t use some iMessage features. But nothing is really broken.

      source
  • Snekeyes@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Uh. It’s not that. Along w that is videos w potato quality, messages that never make it. Of course anyone reading your comment knows you missed the point.

    source

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yeah.

      Because Apple has a proprietary messaging format.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • kowcop@aussie.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I don’t know what may have changed as I am an iPhone user, but about 10 years ago I worked in a small security role for a fairly large company, and the communications company we were using was more than happy to hand over sms logs as plain text. I would personally never send messages to anyone I was sure wasn’t encrypted and I can tell that by the blue bubble. I just don’t know when it is green.

    I don’t know what has changed as I don’t keep up with it, but I am still dubious about messaging outside the Apple ecosystem, which is ok for me as I live in a country where most people use iOS

    source

    • Natanael@slrpnk.net ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      RCS on Android defaults to E2E encryption now since some year back, and Signal has been around for a long time now

      source
  • lefixxx@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Its not absolutely ridiculous and you sound like an idiot who thinks that everyone lives in the same little bubble as you.

    source

    • Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Thanks for proving my second statement.

      source
  • Pseudonaut@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Beeper is more than that. Beeper MINI is about that. But I’ve been using Beeper on my PC for the past year because I am so tired of picking up my phone a million times a day just to send someone a message. I’d say probably 90% of the people I know use iPhone/iMessage so having the ability to message them on desktop was a lifesaver for me. Really bummed it’s not working anymore.

    source

    • slumberlust@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Why doesn’t apple make web messaging available like Android?

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • rdri@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    You sure it’s about that? What I heard is that being outside of “trusted” zone means less features such as media and encryption. Also the person in this article says apple users are basically forced to use sms to send messages to Android users. I too would not want to resort to plain paid messages if my partner doesn’t have the right app.

    source

    • DoomBot5@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      IPhone users have access to WhatsApp, Signal, and other apps android users use to communicate without sms

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • Adderbox76@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I worked in the cellular space for about 20 years off and on before moving to other parties. I guarantee you that maybe one in a thousand think like you.

      BY FAR the average buyer that Apple targets come in two flavors.

      First, the “I’m cool and all my friends are doing it” and second is the “I’m the father, I don’t personally give a shit but my daughter/son wants us all to be on iMessage.”

      source
  • Swuden@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This is literally perpetuated by schoolyard bullying. Anyone over the age of 20 will very liekly be entirely out of touch with how big a deal green/blue is for pre-teens and teens these days. It’s pretty much a cornerstone in teen social structures.

    source
  • Resol@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Messaging apps in general are basically walled gardens.

    Gasp, we should try making a federated alternative.

    source
  • jaschen@lemmynsfw.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s not blue vs green but encrypted or not.

    source

    • techwithjake@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It’s definitely the blue vs green bubbles. Your average user doesn’t even know iMessage is E2EE. They also don’t care.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yeah use Signal. Encrypted messages without a thousand dollar dependency.

      source
• anon_8675309@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It isn’t “Androids “ anything. It’s a third party app. Way to stir things up.

  source

  • SuperSpaceFan@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Agreed!

    source

    • Octopus1348@thelemmy.club ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Why is your account marked as a bot?

      source

      • -> View More Comments
• filister@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Apples was and is still extremely anti-competitive and anti-consumers oriented.

  source

  • Dmian@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Apple has always been a closed ecosystem, doing things “their way”. When they only sold computers, it was a niche company, with a niche audience. Then they started selling phones, and they became a popular company. The blue vs green bubble is just an American problem, that still use SMS as their main messaging protocol. The rest of the world use messaging app, like WhatsApp. It’s truly fascinating watching these events from outside the US.

    source

    • Chriswild@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Originally they focused on computers that could do more for less. They encouraged people to open them up and upgrade or more them.

      It wasn’t till the 2000’s that they started locking everything down.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      As a German I see more glances of WhatsApp on iPhones than iMessage.

      But I have to be honest: The video call is very neat in the Apple ecosystem.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
    • willya@lemmyf.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      But also comparing an apple owned app to a Facebook owned app is hilarious.

      source

      • -> View More Comments
  • onlinepersona@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Apple fanboys don’t care one bit. As long as they can look cool and feel like part of the cool kids, they’ll buy.

    source
  • qyron@sopuli.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Remember this is the same company that has to either comply with the EU bridging regulation between messaging platforms or withdraw from the market.

    source
  • blicky_blank@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I remember in the ipod days plugging a CD into the aul PC and ripping all the files as aac… A format that would only play in iTunes

    source
• _number8_@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  why can’t you simply foster openness and community god fucking dammit

  source

  • the_q@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Money.

    source
  • stoy@lemmy.zip ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    iPhone user here, because Apple likes money.

    source
  • Zetta@mander.xyz ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Scum company

    source
  • AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Because if they opened their walled off garden, there’s a chance they might lose profit and if they do, their CEOs might not be able to afford their diamond studded swimming pools and solid gold Humvees. Those things don’t grow on trees.

    source
  • DarkGamer@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It's a very expensive walled garden

    source
• onlinepersona@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I think it’s a bit crazy to create a paid service on top of a reverse engineered product that isn’t static. Indivious, NewPipe and other youtube frontends aren’t going to create a paid youtube frontend, because they know Google could kill that at any point. Google could dedicate a full team to making youtube frontends non-functional.

  Apple has a much bigger incentive to derail iMessage alternatives because they know that dumb parents have taught their kids how to live in a closed ecosystem and be slaves to Apple. 87% of teenagers use Apple, which means it’s only a matter of time before Apple becomes the dominant player on the market. If you want to keep making fat stacks of cash, the best thing you can do is control the market, which means killing of competition.

  The only reason Apple would ever stop killing competitors is if it became legally and financially detrimental to do so. They’d have to reach Microsoft levels of antitrust and bad press before even considering backpedaling.

  Everyone buying their products is helping Apple along to their goal of market dominance.

  source
• Paragone@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Illegal Anti-Competitive / Cartel behaviour, yes??

  Apple, you are only exempt-from-law UNTIL the regulators decide to do their jobs honestly.

  THEN, you’re hosed.

  _ /\ _

  source
• fine_sandy_bottom@aussie.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Honestly let’s have some dignity and not buy into this vapid pretentious idiocy.

  source
• Cocodapuf@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This doesn’t matter because everyone should be using signal.

  source
• avitld@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  What’s the point of even using iMessage when there’s so many better options for messaging.

  source
• Cyberflunk@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Who could no one have forseen the most obvious outcome in the world coming?

  source
• Sharpiemarker@feddit.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Whoever gave it 24 hours gets a medal from me

  source
• knobbysideup@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Who cares?

  source
• Nach@midwest.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Spoiler - it’s working again. Might be teething problems for a new service.

  source
• ICastFist@programming.dev ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Meanwhile, Whatsapp continues to be the most used messaging app in the world, with no sms or any other sort of fallback if you don’t have an internet connection.

  source
• Crow@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  As someone who doesn’t care about the blue bubble crap once Apple announced RCS the other person using iMessage means nothing to me.

  source
• autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This is the best summary I could come up with:

  ---

  It appears that Beeper Mini, an easy iMessage solution for Android, was simply too good to be true — or a short-lived dream, at least.

  On Friday, less than a week after its launch, the app started experiencing technical issues when users were suddenly unable to send and receive blue bubble messages.

  Several people at The Verge were unable to activate their Android phone numbers with Beeper Mini as of Friday afternoon, a clear indication that Apple has plugged up whatever holes allowed the app to operate to begin with.

  The belief — or I suppose the hope — among Beeper’s developers and users was that it would be such an ordeal for Apple to block the Android app that doing so wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

  Previous attempts to get iMessage working on Android — like Beeper’s original app — have involved complex systems with remote Macs logged into a user’s Apple ID.

  Nothing, the startup from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, recently sought to bring iMessage to its latest phone, but that plan was quickly derailed by security and privacy concerns.

  ---

  The original article contains 450 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  source
• BlackSkinnedJew@lemmynsfw.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I don’t give a flying fuck about it.

  source
• Eggyhead@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  At the very least, hopefully Apple will notice that there is enough of an appetite for iMessage on Android that people are getting innovative about it.

  source
• Yoz@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I really don’t understand who the fuck cares about this shit. OMG! Can’t believe the world we’re living in now

  source
• EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Session? Signal?

  source