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TechnoMonk

macrumors 68000
Oct 15, 2022
1,848
2,632
This is why iOS needs sideloading, so it can get cool apps like this. Apps that provide workarounds to bad software decisions, like region locked apps, or companion apps to devices that are no longer made.

Buy android. choices are good.
I hope apple cuts it off real soon. It's nothing but DECEPTION for me to text someone and think I am texting an apple user only to see its an Android phone with this app.
Why? I couldnt careless if the sender is on android or ios.
 
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BaldiMac

macrumors G3
Jan 24, 2008
8,795
10,933
“Most of the rest of the world (outside the US) are not using iMessage” is not a controversial statement.
Sure. But, technically, you can say the same thing about WhatsApp with "only" 2 billion users. :p

(I'm not disagreeing with your larger point, just pointing out that this statement isn't very meaningful.)
 
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jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
15,849
18,423
US
They can if they communicate with their legal team (and if a tech company doesn’t have a legal team, are they even a company?) and get those things squared away well ahead of even introducing a product. If they ignore legal advice that says, “Of all the things to build a company around, iMessage over non-Apple devices just doesn’t seem like it’s legally free of challenges.” and goes ahead anyway? Then, yeah they basically put the shoes and socks onto the foot that’s going to stomp them.

Oh, and stood directly under it so they won’t miss!
But in the end...do they have the finnacial means with go toe to toe with Apple? I think not......Apple can spend as much as they like even if they lose.
 

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G4
Jul 22, 2002
10,141
8,091
But in the end...do they have the finnacial means with go toe to toe with Apple? I think not......Apple can spend as much as they like even if they lose.
Oh, of COURSE not. The smart money is just avoiding going toe to toe with Apple or <insert any company that has a significantly larger war chest than they have>. Of course, companies ALSO know that getting smacked down by Apple also grants them a few cycles in the tech news universe, so even if they lose, more people know about them than before they tried. I’m sure that factors into their bottom line. If “Cease and desist” is the most likely end state (i.e. no huge payout), then they’d just out an email to their hundreds of thousands of users, get that note signal boosted to folks that had no idea the company even existed and a few of them MIGHT actually end up in the inbox of a venture capitalist that sees an opportunity for a creative talented group of programmers.
 

skinuca

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2005
100
24
New York City
I'm not buying an Android just for sideloading lmao. My phone isn't even two years old why would I burn a lot of cash on a new one just to have the ability to install apps outside of an app store, something that iOS really should have?
Sounds like chose the wrong phone. You can sell your iPhone and get good Android one that meets your OS requirements. I am not sure why you think iMessage should work on devices other than Apple's. It requires apples servers and its software to run and it is a service provided to people who use its hardware.

For friends without iPhones we use a different messaging app much as we do for larger groups. In our case it is most often Signal or GroupMe, but sometimes Telegram. No doubt for many others is WhatsApp, KakaoTalk, or WeChat.
 

Spaceboi Scaphandre

macrumors 68040
Jun 8, 2022
3,414
8,096
Sounds like chose the wrong phone. You can sell your iPhone and get good Android one that meets your OS requirements. I am not sure why you think iMessage should work on devices other than Apple's. It requires apples servers and its software to run and it is a service provided to people who use its hardware.

I am not talking about iMessage I'm talking about sideloading in general. Installing apps outside of the Apple App Store like the Mac can. Sunbird is a prime example of the kinds of things that are possible when you're not limited to a single app store.
 

BaldiMac

macrumors G3
Jan 24, 2008
8,795
10,933
I am not talking about iMessage I'm talking about sideloading in general. Installing apps outside of the Apple App Store like the Mac can. Sunbird is a prime example of the kinds of things that are possible when you're not limited to a single app store.
I'm not sure how an obviously illegal app is a good example in favor of sideloading.
 

MauiPa

macrumors 68040
Apr 18, 2018
3,430
5,080
This just proves what I have been saying for a long time. Google could have done this themselves, but they prefer to be whiners. Google: "oh it all apples fault", "oh wait, sunbird did what? they must have better programmers and smarter people than we do, drat"
 

iJest

Suspended
Jul 27, 2023
186
223
How is it ”obviously illegal”? I'm intrigued.
They're going to be be sued into oblivion. They are using property they don't own. iMessage is an incentivizing reason many people choose iPhone over Android and it is a potential for lost sales on Apple's part. Of course it's illegal. This won't last long.
 

BaldiMac

macrumors G3
Jan 24, 2008
8,795
10,933
They're going to be be sued into oblivion. They are using property they don't own. iMessage is an incentivizing reason many people choose iPhone over Android and it is a potential for lost sales on Apple's part. Of course it's illegal. This won't last long.
I doubt it. They're too small for Apple to care about now. And if the DMA's disastrous messaging interoperability rules go into effect in the EU, then there will be a market for this product.
 
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Ludatyk

macrumors 603
May 27, 2012
5,529
4,545
Texas
This just proves what I have been saying for a long time. Google could have done this themselves, but they prefer to be whiners. Google: "oh it all apples fault", "oh wait, sunbird did what? they must have better programmers and smarter people than we do, drat"
Umm... I don't think Google could of done this exactly. Reason why Sunbird and Beeper have the luxury of creating this kind of solution.. they are relatively small company. Apple has little reason to explore legal action against them as @BaldiMac mentioned.

Heck, look at what Microsoft is doing with iMessage on Windows... they are implementing the feature via bluetooth. Companies like Google and Microsoft know the ramifications for doing what Sunbird and Beeper is doing, therefore its no point going down that path.
 

iJest

Suspended
Jul 27, 2023
186
223
I doubt it. Their too small for Apple to care about now. And if the DMA's disastrous messaging interoperability rules go into effect in the EU, then there will be a market for this product.
We'll see how long it lasts.
 

jonblatho

macrumors 68030
Jan 20, 2014
2,510
6,206
Oklahoma
Come on. Unauthorized computer access is illegal in the US and Europe. This isn't some gray area.
My understanding is that services like this use some authorized device to send and receive iMessages for a number of users, and then those messages are relayed elsewhere. Services like this have existed for those with Mac workstation at home (or a Mac otherwise persistently connected to the internet) for a number of years. I guess Sunbird is different by eliminating the requirement that users own a Mac.

I highly doubt they're interfacing with the iMessage backend directly — if they were I'd figure they could at least get read receipts working — but instead they're probably using AWS or MacStadium or similar to spin up a bunch of Mac user accounts in the cloud, each of which is both able and allowed to access iMessage. At that point, it's just a matter of syncing ~/Library/Messages/chat.db.

Not only is that not illegal, but also I'm not seeing how it even violates Apple's terms of service or EULAs at this time. Apple could, of course, update their terms/agreements to forbid this practice, and they could also implement workarounds in macOS to make services like this more difficult. However, even if it were to be forbidden by their terms/agreements, the practice still wouldn't be illegal in and of itself. EULAs are not laws.
 

BaldiMac

macrumors G3
Jan 24, 2008
8,795
10,933
My understanding is that services like this use some authorized device to send and receive iMessages for a number of users, and then those messages are relayed elsewhere. Services like this have existed for those with Mac workstation at home (or a Mac otherwise persistently connected to the internet) for a number of years. I guess Sunbird is different by eliminating the requirement that users own a Mac.

I highly doubt they're interfacing with the iMessage backend directly — if they were I'd figure they could at least get read receipts working — but instead they're probably using AWS or MacStadium or similar to spin up a bunch of Mac user accounts in the cloud, each of which is both able and allowed to access iMessage. At that point, it's just a matter of syncing ~/Library/Messages/chat.db.

Not only is that not illegal, but also I'm not seeing how it even violates Apple's terms of service or EULAs at this time. Apple could, of course, update their terms/agreements to forbid this practice, and they could also implement workarounds in macOS to make services like this more difficult. However, even if it were to be forbidden by their terms/agreements, the practice still wouldn't be illegal in and of itself. EULAs are not laws.
Apple's Software License Agreements are precisely what authorizes the access to the iMessage servers. Without them, the access is unauthorized and therefore illegal. Feel free to quote the appropriate clause in the relevant SLA that authorizes the process that you described.

 

tbayrgs

macrumors 604
Jul 5, 2009
7,346
4,869
Apple's Software License Agreements are precisely what authorizes the access to the iMessage servers. Without them, the access is unauthorized and therefore illegal. Feel free to quote the appropriate clause in the relevant SLA that authorizes the process that you described.

But these services are using Apple hardware presumably running MacOS. Users are logging into the iMessage software on Apple hardware running Apple software. BlueBubbles has a user do this on their own Mac. Where is the illegal element? Genuinely asking as I'm no lawyer.
 
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jonblatho

macrumors 68030
Jan 20, 2014
2,510
6,206
Oklahoma
Apple's Software License Agreements are precisely what authorizes the access to the iMessage servers. Without them, the access is unauthorized and therefore illegal. Feel free to quote the appropriate clause in the relevant SLA that authorizes the process that you described.

I'm going to venture to say that Sunbird has consulted with legal counsel on the specifics of their setup to ensure that it's within the bounds of the macOS EULA.

@tbayrgs beat me to the punch, but services have existed for a number of years to allow users to do this with their own Mac hardware — and again, this is just glorified file syncing — and macOS’s license also allows for it to run in virtualized environments, so…
 

BaldiMac

macrumors G3
Jan 24, 2008
8,795
10,933
I'm going to venture to say that Sunbird has consulted with legal counsel on the specifics of their setup to ensure that it's within the bounds of the macOS EULA.

@tbayrgs beat me to the punch, but services have existed for a number of years to allow users to do this with their own Mac hardware — and again, this is just glorified file syncing — and macOS’s license also allows for it to run in virtualized environments, so…
So you’re guessing. I posted the SLAs. TL;DR - None of them allow you to sub-license acesss for commercial reasons.

But ignore that. What you’re proposing is that you think it’s completely legitimate for a messaging company to have complete access to everything you store in iCloud. That’s crazy.

That’s the kind of company you’d assume did their legal homework?
 
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izzy0242mr

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2009
643
430
There's finally and Android texting app that will allow you to play nice with your iPhone friends, Sunbird. All you need is an Apple ID and your iMessaging with friends! I was shocked when my hardcore Android buddy started sending me blue texts - best part is that finally being able to send videos back and forth that aren't all fuzzy!
An app called Beeper is another option here as well. I've seen ads for both. They seem to do the same thing.
 
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