Nothing’s iMessage platform removed from Google Play Store
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Nothing’s iMessage platform removed from Google Play Store
Nothing Chats was pulled from the Google Play Store, shortly after launching its beta app.
According to Nothing, the launch of its Android-based messaging platform for iMessage has been delayed until further notice. The company wants to work with its service provider (Sunbird) to “fix several bugs”.
We've removed the Nothing Chats beta from the Play Store and will be delaying the launch until further notice to work with Sunbird to fix several bugs.
— Nothing (@nothing) November 18, 2023
We apologise for the delay and will do right by our users.
However, the iMessage clone has attracted its fair share of unwanted attention during its announcement, primarily because of Sunbird’s glaring security risks it poses to iMessage and access to iCloud, which in turn implicates Nothing and Nothing Chats.
GSMArena has compiled several findings about Sunbird from various experts. While messages sent to its Mac mini server farm are encrypted, its encryption tokens (JWT) are sent unencrypted to a different Sunbird server without basic cryptographic protocols (SSL).
The technical analysis team at Text (a rivalling platform-agnostic messaging app) also attempted to access test messages they sent between two Nothing Chats devices and managed to do so by intercepting the JWT.
GSMArena has said that Nothing citing this matter as “bugs” is “extremely dishonest” and that Nothing Chats “especially seems pointless” ever since Apple announced RCS support for 2024 over the weekend.
Source: GSMArena, Texts (blog)
