Awesome, there are some really cool ideas here. Are you planning on adding any sort of license? Would love to use some of the feature ideas in another github repo.
Which RGB library are you using for esp32? I was doing some initial LED stuff with a Pi with hzellers rpi-rgb-led-matrix library, but I am having to switch over to esp. Also that PCB looks really nice for avoiding the pain with wires. Do you plan on releasing the files for that?
Personally as a college student, all my friends use iPhones still. I have always wanted to switch to andriod, but one of the things that really holds me back is the fact iMessage still feels leagues above how SMS and texting works on andriod. Many subtle features of Imessage really make a difference with the overall texting experience on the iPhone over the long term.
Most of my friends do not have whatsapp, and we are constantly sharing photos and video. Regular SMS can barely send pictures let alone videos, and I don't want to go through other means to simply shoot my friend a quick video of something.
> iMessage still feels leagues above how SMS and texting works on andriod
iMessage is a messaging app that uses internet. It should be compared to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, WeChat, FB Messenger.
It doesn't make sense to compare iMessage to SMS. Because nobody uses SMS as their main communication method. The only people who ever use SMS are iPhone users when they text Android users.
All this confusion comes from the fact that Apple merged their messaging app with the SMS app. This creates the illusion that iMessaging isn't just a messaging app but it is actually something built on top of SMS. It's just a messaging app that is not cross-platform.
> I don't want to go through other means to simply shoot my friend a quick video of something.
By "other means", do you mean installing a new messaging app? I'm guessing this isn't about the effort of downloading an app but rather it's about getting used to a new app and convincing your friends to switch to it.
“convincing your friends to switch to it” is the real issue. Or remembering which platform various friends use and keeping that straight. And when you have multiple friends who prefer different platforms, figuring out the intersection of messaging platforms that they all use. Or when you have a friend on Facebook messenger but you don’t know their phone number, or a friend who can’t have WeChat installed on their corporate phone, or any number of other situations.
This blue coloured bubble thing I've never heard anyone outside of Silicon Valley engineers/media mention, but I've heard it extrapolated as a deciding factor to the rest of the world by those same people many times.
I don't think most people actually give a shit about the bubble colour.
For me it's the fact that you can generally see the other person typing in an iMessage, while you can't in normal SMS.
That tells me whether the person is replying right now, so it's worth keeping my phone out, or busy and therefore won't be getting back to me for a while.
No. iMessage has the low entry barrier of SMS, but has features like a real chat app. SMS is not an iMessage replacement. Instead you have to get everyone you message with to change to something like WhatsApp.
Yes, with a catch: it requires an always on Mac (which can be in the cloud) or a jailbroken iOS device. We plan to make it work without the catch.
I've worked with 10+ messaging platforms so far and Apple's protocol is the most obfuscated and complicated to reverse engineer. Apple has invested millions of dollars to make the iMessage protocol super hard to reverse engineer. It's how they sell tons of iPhones after all:
> However, Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering and the executive in charge of iOS, feared that “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones”. (https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/04/28/apple-admits-that-i...)
Looks like a super cool project. I'm always happy to see new client-side software for communication protocols written that aims to improve upon built-in! And iMessages in particular could certainly use it. With the demise of iTunes, it now feels like iMessages is probably one of the most crufty-but-heavily-utilized user facing pieces of software Apple puts out. Maybe they have some long term plans to refactor it ala iTunes but yeesh.
This bit did make me wonder though:
>We plan to make it work without the catch.
Out of curiosity, do really think that's realistic, or even desirable long term? iMessage is ultimately an Apple service that runs heavily on Apple's infrastructure, and is directly subsidized by sales of their highly vertically integrated hardware platforms. If it turns into a cat-and-mouse fight it seems like they're always going to have the eternal upper hand, which in turn seems like it'd make for a subpar user experience (ie., breaks randomly which for an instant messaging service would be pretty bad). Also seems like they might actually be motivated to respond rather than ignore it since it'd actually be directly leeching their infra if it will work on PCs/Android without a Mac/iDevice purchase in the equation (unlike hackintoshes for example, where whatever debate there is to be had about probably very low "lost sales" it doesn't actually cost them anything).
Obviously you've probably thought this all through, but seems like just requiring an old cheap Mac or old jb'd idevice and thus avoiding Apple might be an easier path. Or alternately just stick to offering a flat out better client with the iMessage bit being Mac-only. Will be interested to see how it goes though!
> one of the most crufty-but-heavily-utilized user facing pieces of software Apple puts out. Maybe they have some long term plans to refactor it ala iTunes but yeesh.
The Messages app on Mac was rewritten for Big Sur (last year). It gained some features but also some bugs in the process.
Likely because each iMessage receiving device has a private key to decrypt the messages, and senders encrypt the iMessage against all the keys in your key bag.
To access iCloud and or services you also need to have a device security key that is tied to genuine hardware.
