Nothing is bringing iMessage to the Phone 2

Nothing is bringing its latest smartphone, the Phone 2, into Apple’s blue bubble club. Yup, iMessage is coming to the Nothing Phone 2 on Friday. Sort of.

The Phone 2 will get a new ‘Nothing Chats‘ app that’s powered by messaging platform Sunbird, one of many chat aggregator platforms that pulls messages from various sources — including iMessage — into one interface.

In the case of iMessage, what that means is you’ll need to sign into your Apple account on a Mac mini in a server farm, and the Mac mini handles routing your iMessage chats to the app on your phone. Nothing confirmed as much to Marques Brownlee, who tried a preview of Nothing Chats. The Verge also pointed out that Nothing’s FAQ page says Sunbird can deliver a message from one user to another without storing it, and that messages aren’t stored on its servers.

But that means trusting Sunbird with your Apple account and your privacy to make the system work. And if we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that you probably shouldn’t trust a company.

And, of course, there’s no guarantee it’ll work well. The Washington Post tested out Nothing Chats too, noting it works “for the most part” but that there are missing features and reliability issues. Missing features include the ability to edit messages and Tapback reactions aren’t fully operational yet. The Post also noted that group chats only work if everyone is on iMessage (which, you know, is basically the issue with iPhone’s current SMS fallback system). The publication encountered issues where it needed to send the same message multiple times before it actually sent.

Despite issues, some of the big features are there and working (or coming in the future). For example, message recipients can still see when you’re typing and full quality image sharing works. Future updates will enable read receipts and message reactions.

The Friday launch gives Apple plenty of time to respond — if it chooses to respond at all. The company has been adamant that iMessage remain a core iPhone feature, and only an iPhone feature, to the point that Apple CEO Tim Cook told a reporter to buy their mom an iPhone to avoid messaging issues. Sunbird and similar messaging platforms promising ways to get iMessage on Android aren’t exactly new, but with Nothing choosing to integrate the service directly into one of its phones, it may bring more attention to the platforms, attention that could push Apple to respond, possibly to protect its iPhone-exclusive feature.

Meanwhile, regulators are already looking at whether to open up iMessage, so regardless what happens with Sunbird and Nothing, Apple might not have a choice in the future.

Nothing Chats will be available for Phone (2) users in Canada as well as in the U.S., U.K., and E.U. to start.

Header image credit: Nothing

Source: The Verge, The Washington Post, MKBHD