If you’re an Android user itching for that iMessage experience, Sunbird Messaging is back and available right now. The company announced its return on Wednesday, three years after it was shut down in 2023 due to privacy concerns.
Sunbird’s big selling point is that its messaging app lets you send blue bubble messages to iPhone users while also offering the iMessage chat experience Apple customers are familiar with.
According to the announcement, the app brings together iMessage, RCS and SMS/MMC messaging under one proverbial roof.
If organizing your text messages is a priority, the app now offers a Primary tab where you can add the people and groups you stay in touch with most. Messages from unknown numbers, routine texts with verification codes, and the like are filed in the Secondary tab. You can move conversations between both tabs at any time.
As an Android phone owner, I’m well aware of the stigma that comes from being the only blue bubble in a group iMessage chat.
Since Apple now supports RCS messaging, the barriers to communicating with my iPhone-using friends have mostly been knocked down — meaning I can now see typing activity, get read receipts and send high-quality media without the content quality headaches of the past.
This begs the question: Is this glow-up too little too late?
“The real problem is that an Android user in a group chat still breaks it for everyone: reactions, replies, high-quality video and group management often just do not work,” Danny Mizrahi, CEO of Sunbird Messaging, said in a statement. “Sunbird fixes that, so the Android user becomes a full participant, and their iPhone friends get the experience they expect too.”
Sunbird was initially on the Google Play Store from late 2022 to late 2023. After it was discovered that the app was sending people’s personal Apple ID credentials through an unprotected, unencrypted server, the company shut the app down.
Not only did employees have access to this information, along with all content sent and received through the messaging app, but there was also a significant risk that a hacker could infiltrate the system and steal it.
A year later, Sunbird resurrected the messaging app in beta mode. Today, it graduated to open-beta mode.
With the messaging app returning to the Google Play Store, questions about lingering privacy concerns have resurfaced. According to the company, messages sent and received are now encrypted and do not get stored on Sunbird’s servers.
As for the sharing of Apple credentials, Sunbird requires you to have an Apple ID to use the app. The company says you’re required to set up a one-time password, which is then destroyed, and no authentication tokens are kept.
Sunbird’s app offers a 14-day free trial, then costs $3 per month or $25 per year, and is currently available only to US customers. For more information on the company’s security measures, head to the Sunbird website.
A Sunbird spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment.
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