Want to use iMessage on Android? Here's the way
For anyone using an iPhone, iMessage is the go-to messaging platform. It can be described as the modernized avatar of BBM, one that has heavily contributed to the sales of iPhones and kept users from switching to Android. But now, you can get the same iMessage experience on your Android phone through a clever workaround. Here's how it works.
AirMessage brings iMessage to Android
Over the years, the success of iMessage has prompted Android users to ask for a version for their platform as well. Apple has always been tight-lipped on this, but third-party developers have been actively looking at ways to deliver the same experience. Now, one such platform, called AirMessage, claims to offer the near-perfect iMessage experience you would expect on Android.
How AirMessage works
The AirMessage app routes messages to and from Apple's iMessage servers and offers all of its popular features such as read receipts, media sharing, message effects, tapbacks, and stickers. It is a pretty elegant solution, but in order to keep relaying messages to and from your Android device, the app has to be connected to a server setup on a Mac computer.
This means you will need a Mac for this solution
The element of creating a server for relaying messages means you will have to keep a Mac (with OS X 10.10 Yosemite or higher) up and running for this solution to work. This can be a problem for some users, but at the same time, it also means that your messages would be fully encrypted and won't go through any third-party servers.
So, how to get started with this AirMessage
You will first have to install its server on your Mac and give permissions to read messages by navigating to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access and add AirMessage. Next, you'll have to set up port-forwarding on your router and install the AirMessage app on your phone; there's even a detailed guide to help you with the process.
Will Apple ever launch iMessage for Android?
Though there's no technical issue preventing Apple from launching iMessage on Android, we don't expect that to happen any time soon. Apple has been selling iMessage as an iOS exclusive capability and making the feature available on Android would mean giving another solid reason to its customers to make the jump to Android. So, official iMessage for Android isn't coming anytime soon.
