The First 'iMessage' On Android, And How It Struggles To Maintain Its Blue Bubble

The green and blue bubbles on iPhone messages indicate the type of service used to send the message.

Blue bubbles mean that the message was sent using iMessage, which is Apple’s own messaging platform. Therefore, blue bubbles also signal that the sender and the receiver are both using Apple products, which can create a sense of belonging and identity among Apple users.

This essentially means that messages sent using non-Apple devices are discriminated, uniquely identified with their 'dreaded' green bubble.

Apple is widely regarded as a premium and innovative brand, and some people may associate blue bubbles with higher social status, taste, and coolness. Conversely, green bubbles may be seen as inferior, outdated, or uncool by some people.

Among other reasons, this is why Google desperately wants Apple to adopt RCS, and the reason why some Android manufacturers try to make their messages appear blue.

Nothing Technology Ltd nailed with its Nothing Phone 2, but struggled afterwards.

When communicating with an Apple user through its default messaging app, anyone that doesn't use an Apple device will have their bubble appear green.

This green color is more than just a color issue, because those who appear green are confronted with restrictive character limits, pixelated photos and videos. This happened because non-Apple user trying to message Apple user send their messages using SMS and MMS format.

Some people feel ashamed of this, and in pop culture, they're also ashamed about their choice of phone operating system just because their texts appear in green bubbles on iPhones and everyone else’s are blue.

This is apparent in countries where Apple dominates, like the U.S. as the most notable.

And here, Nothing's messaging app for the its Phone 2 phone is able to give users access to iMessage's famous blue texting bubbles. This essentially allows users, which are Android users, to communicate with Apple's iMessage, as if they're part of the crowd.

The Nothing Chats app, which effectively turns texts into blue bubbles, is a solution for those loyal Android users who think that the green texting bubbles are making them feel left out by their iPhone-toting peers.

To make this happen, the London-based consumer tech company developed the app with the help of messaging platform Sunbird.

"Those green messaging bubbles can feel like a barrier between you and other smartphone users," the company's post reads.

"But we've found the solution."

After downloading the Nothing Chats app from the Google Play Store, users must first log into their Apple ID to begin sending and receiving iMessages.

Nothing also said that messages are end-to-end encrypted, and that neither Nothing nor Sunbird can access the messages users are sending and receiving.

While this makes it possible for users to have the blue bubble, the approach draws security concerns.

This is because the log in system must be done through a Mac mini server farm. Because this approach provides compatibility with iMessage, it's still unofficial, meaning that it will never have full compatibility.

Days after announcing this, Sunbird, the app that brings iMessage to Android, has temporarily shut down the service over "security concerns."

In a notice to users, Sunbird says it has "decided to pause Sunbird usage for now" while it investigates reports that its messages aren’t actually end-to-end encrypted.

At first, Nothing said that it had to fix "several bugs" within the app. But eventually, the company removed the Nothing Chats app from the Google Play Store, suggesting that the issue is maybe more than just some "bugs."

"We will update you when we are ready to proceed," the company said.

While a simple switch from green to blue bubbles might sound trivial, there really is an existing communication barrier for some Android users, especially when most of the people they talk have iPhones.

This is especially prevalent among Gen Zers.

The blue bubble green bubble phenomenon among youngsters is already a social stigma, which apparently led to discrimination that some Android users face from iPhone users who use iMessage.

Because some iPhone users, especially teens, have developed a negative attitude towards Android users and their green bubbles, they may mock, bully, or exclude Android users from group chats. This phenomenon has been reported by various media outlets and researchers, and has been criticized by Google as a way for Apple to benefit from peer pressure and lock-in customers to its products.

A lot of surveys found that many teenagers wish to have an iPhone, and more expect to buy an iPhone for their next phone.

Apple wins this lucrative market hands down.