3 ms·

I was just looking at this because I’d really like the option of switching to Android. In what ways was operating AirMessage a nuisance?

huffmsa 6y ago
It's not fully compatible. It's okay. Better than being the odd sms user out for group chats, but not excellent.
dgfitz 6y ago
Getting the VM up and running was a bit of work. Without getting into it much, the VM needed to be convinced it was a real machine with a real serial number, etc. took a it but I got that sorted out. I needed that working so I could create an real iCloud account that would allow me to use iMessage first on the VM and then again on the android app. Before Apple let’s you use iMessage you need to convince them you bought Apple hardware. The VM constantly wanted to restart for updates, which I was scared to do because of the tenuous nature of the VM I had set up. I ended up having to re-do the Vm 3-4 times because I would inadvertently break something with a small tweak. Th VM wanted to be rather directly exposed to the outside world. Of course there were ways to try and make things more secure, but I didn’t really try. I would have to sync messages from the VM to my phone if for some reason the VM went down because of a restart or power outage. The VM was running on a Windows 10 box, and windows likes to update and restart whenever it feels like it. I had to use the AirMessage app, which of course makes sense, but the texts didn’t integrate with a native android message platform. Again this makes sense, it was just a little annoying sometimes. People had to know to iMessage me with the email address I had connected to iCloud. I couldn’t connect my phone number. So everyone who wanted to iMessage me needed to both know and use the email address instead of my number. I’ve had this number for about 20 years, and trying to sort that out with everyone seemed like more trouble than it was worth. There iMessage features that I remember not working, all the “likes” and whatnot on a message. Sending pictures was pretty slow and painful, and didn’t always work. There are probably a few more things I’m forgetting. I really want to convey again, I applaud the author for what they’ve accomplished and I think it’s really neat. Perhaps some/all of these pain points are resolved. I tried to give feedback in the private reddit when that was a thing because I really wanted this to be my way to iMessage on an android.
- Waterfall 6y ago
  The serial, how did you get it working? I tried generating a few of them and they never worked. I got one from my MacBook to put on another computer, it worked for a while but one day clover (osx bootloader for non Mac hardware) updated and it stopped working. I am not sure if the serial had an issue or something, did you have a similar issue? I ran it on bare metal and my use was different (just to have my messages and iPhone synced) so it worked ok for me until i updated it and stopped using osx.
  - dgfitz 6y ago
    There was quite a bit I had to do with generating the right set of serial number + I think two other numbers that escape me, using I believe clover. I also had to do a good bit of hand modification of the vmx file leveraging the generated numbers. It took a good bit of googling. I wish I remembered the details better.
- lostlogin 6y ago
  > I ended up having to re-do the Vm 3-4 times because I would inadvertently break something with a small tweak. What virtualisation software were you using? Snapshots should have had you covered against breaking changes. Thanks for the review.
  - dgfitz 6y ago
    I ended up leveraging snapshots after a few flubs. A lot of the tinkering was with the vmx file and I remember at least once doing something incorrect and bricking the VM, because I didn’t remember what had changed. I was using VMware.

huffmsa 6y ago

It's not fully compatible. It's okay. Better than being the odd sms user out for group chats, but not excellent.

dgfitz 6y ago

Getting the VM up and running was a bit of work. Without getting into it much, the VM needed to be convinced it was a real machine with a real serial number, etc. took a it but I got that sorted out. I needed that working so I could create an real iCloud account that would allow me to use iMessage first on the VM and then again on the android app. Before Apple let’s you use iMessage you need to convince them you bought Apple hardware. The VM constantly wanted to restart for updates, which I was scared to do because of the tenuous nature of the VM I had set up. I ended up having to re-do the Vm 3-4 times because I would inadvertently break something with a small tweak. Th VM wanted to be rather directly exposed to the outside world. Of course there were ways to try and make things more secure, but I didn’t really try. I would have to sync messages from the VM to my phone if for some reason the VM went down because of a restart or power outage. The VM was running on a Windows 10 box, and windows likes to update and restart whenever it feels like it. I had to use the AirMessage app, which of course makes sense, but the texts didn’t integrate with a native android message platform. Again this makes sense, it was just a little annoying sometimes. People had to know to iMessage me with the email address I had connected to iCloud. I couldn’t connect my phone number. So everyone who wanted to iMessage me needed to both know and use the email address instead of my number. I’ve had this number for about 20 years, and trying to sort that out with everyone seemed like more trouble than it was worth. There iMessage features that I remember not working, all the “likes” and whatnot on a message. Sending pictures was pretty slow and painful, and didn’t always work. There are probably a few more things I’m forgetting. I really want to convey again, I applaud the author for what they’ve accomplished and I think it’s really neat. Perhaps some/all of these pain points are resolved. I tried to give feedback in the private reddit when that was a thing because I really wanted this to be my way to iMessage on an android.

Waterfall 6y ago
The serial, how did you get it working? I tried generating a few of them and they never worked. I got one from my MacBook to put on another computer, it worked for a while but one day clover (osx bootloader for non Mac hardware) updated and it stopped working. I am not sure if the serial had an issue or something, did you have a similar issue? I ran it on bare metal and my use was different (just to have my messages and iPhone synced) so it worked ok for me until i updated it and stopped using osx.
- dgfitz 6y ago
  There was quite a bit I had to do with generating the right set of serial number + I think two other numbers that escape me, using I believe clover. I also had to do a good bit of hand modification of the vmx file leveraging the generated numbers. It took a good bit of googling. I wish I remembered the details better.
lostlogin 6y ago
> I ended up having to re-do the Vm 3-4 times because I would inadvertently break something with a small tweak. What virtualisation software were you using? Snapshots should have had you covered against breaking changes. Thanks for the review.
- dgfitz 6y ago
  I ended up leveraging snapshots after a few flubs. A lot of the tinkering was with the vmx file and I remember at least once doing something incorrect and bricking the VM, because I didn’t remember what had changed. I was using VMware.