Update: Nothing has removed Nothing Chats from the Play Store and has delayed its launch due to “several bugs." However, Sunbird itself sent a notification to its users citing security concerns—the app isn't end-to-end encrypted as the company claimed.
Having predominantly used Android phones, I am far too familiar with the stigma of being a “green bubble.” Whenever I message someone with an iPhone, my texts show up in iMessage, the default messaging platform in iOS, but the app switches my messages from the secure but Apple-only iMessage protocol to the dated SMS/MMS protocol. On iPhones, this changes the color of the bubbles on my side of the conversation from blue to green, which gives my friends something to tease me about. It also means a lot of modern-day messaging features stop working: Our conversation is not encrypted, I miss some messages in group chats, photos and videos can only be shared at low quality, and I can't see read receipts.
In the past year, there's been a renewed conversation encouraging Apple to adopt the rich communication services (RCS) protocol, which would upgrade the texting experience between Android and iOS users and bring a lot of those features back. It has also given rise to apps like Beeper, which turns your messages blue even if you use an Android phone.
Nothing, the smartphone brand, has waded into this stopgap app market with Nothing Chats. Currently in beta and only available for Nothing Phone (2) owners, it lets you message your iPhone contacts without turning the conversation into a bright green hue. I have been using a beta version for a few days and while there are a lot of bugs, it works.
The elephant in the room? Apple just announced iPhones will officially support the RCS standard next year. I don't expect this will be an end to the green-blue bubbles saga, but it might just be better to wait for Apple's adoption for the sake of your privacy.
After installing the app and setting up your Nothing Chats account, you'll need to connect third-party services like iMessage with an Apple ID (you can create one without an Apple device). I had two-factor authentication turned on with my Apple ID, so I got a prompt on my MacBook about an Apple ID sign-in attempt, and I had to accept it and provide a verification code. You can also connect RCS via the Google Messages app so that all your texts are routed into Nothing Chat. I don't recommend this as I had issues with missing notifications for texts, and I started getting notifications for texts that were sent months if not years ago.
I had trouble finding the people I wanted to speak with on Nothing Chats. Some people showed up when I searched their names, others just didn't exist. So I manually found their number in my Google Contacts list, sent the number a message via the app, and then added them as an existing contact. I kept receiving “failed to send” messages, but I found that if I waited a few minutes, things would work out. Nothing Chats automatically sends a vCard first so that the receiver can merge your new chat persona with your existing contact information.
There are some weird rules you have to follow. The phone number of the iPhone owner you're messaging has to be connected to an Apple ID on their iPhone, or you can choose their email address, which also needs to be set as the receiving address for iMessage. You can only create group chats with folks on iMessage. (I made a group chat with two iPhone owners and another Android phone owner, and it sent my message, but I never heard back from anyone despite them claiming to have responded. Maybe they hate me.)
Despite all this, I was up and running, messaging my friends with iPhones—I came through blue on their end. Just know that while you show up as blue, that doesn't mean every iMessage feature will automatically work. Voice Notes did work, as did message reactions, read receipts, and typing indicators, but I couldn't see the iPhone owner's Focus status, and iMessage games hilariously just come through as static images.
Nothing Chats, in its present state, is an otherwise barebones messaging client. There's no built-in location sharing, no built-in stickers, no built-in voice or video calling. It's a fledging app, so I imagine some of these features will be built up over time.
So how does this process work? And if it's actually possible, why hasn't Google done it yet with its own messaging client? Well, that's because you're more or less handing over your Apple ID to a third party. The technology behind Nothing Chats is powered by a company called Sunbird. Here's how it works.
Once you provide an Apple ID, it's purportedly fully encrypted by Sunbird, and the Apple ID data you initially provided is destroyed. Nothing says the encrypted data doesn't contain any sensitive information in plaintext so your Apple ID remains secure. Sunbird has patented a process for “securely validating and creating, when necessary, the Apple ID natively on the Apple ecosystem.”
“Your credentials are encrypted and become associated with one of Sunbird’s North America or Europe-based Mac Minis (depending on where you’re located), creating an encrypted relay for iMessages sent through the app,” says Jane Nho, a Nothing spokesperson. “Sunbird’s server data streams are fully encrypted, and even if there were to be any intrusion on the datastream, Apple ID data would not be able to be accessed as they’re not stored anywhere at any point and are automatically deleted as part of the encryption process.”
Nothing claims that once this relay has been created, it cannot be accessed by Sunbird or anyone, even if it has physical access to the server. (All Sunbird can do is delete it.) However, Karsten Nohl, founder and chief scientist at Security Research Labs, thinks otherwise. He says routing messages through a third-party service essentially breaks end-to-end encryption.
“Users have to trust that Sunbird restrains themselves from reading messages,” Nohl said via an email. “There is no technical reason why Sunbird could not engineer their systems to snoop on messages.”
Whether or not you trust Sunbird, it all might be a moot point if Apple's going to add RCS support next year. This development hasn't deterred Nothing or slowed the launch of its new app. Nothing CEO Carl Pei said this in an emailed statement: “The news that Apple plans to adopt RCS support in 2024 is a step in the right direction, but it won’t resolve all interoperability issues between iOS and Android. It’s imperative that we keep pushing for the designation of iMessage as a core service platform, hold Apple accountable to their RCS announcement next year, and keep this conversation alive.”
It's worth noting that this green versus blue debate is not that commonplace outside the US, where Apple is not the dominant smartphone operating system. “The rest of the world happily uses messenger apps available on all platforms that offer the same level of end-to-end encryption,” says Nohl. “Shaming users into giving up their end-to-end protection is an unintended but serious side effect of Apple’s market dominance in the US.”
