Neil Hughes
Whether or not it's ever released, Apple has allegedly toyed internally with the idea of releasing iMessage for Android, going as far as to make mockups for the text messaging client in Google's "Material Design," according to a new report.
Citing anonymous sources, John Gruber of Daring Fireball said this week that various Android iMessage mockups have circulated within Apple. The concepts have had varying user interface designs, with some adhering to Android-consistent Material Design, while others replicated iOS on Android.
The details were dropped as an aside while Gruber spoke of the "stickiness" of Apple's iMessage platform. iMessage is exclusive to Apple devices, including iOS and macOS.
Gruber cautioned that iMessage for Android may never actually be released. But he pointed to the alleged mockups as a sign that it's at least possible.
Such a move would not be unprecedented for Apple — Â last year, the company brought its Apple Music subscription service to Android devices.
In a footnote, he also acknowledged that late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs promised back in 2010 that FaceTime video chat would become an open standard, available for other platforms and services to integrate. Of course, that never happened.
Gruber said FaceTime remains Apple-exclusive for a variety of reasons, including engineering concerns, and a patent infringement lawsuit from VirnetX which forced the company to develop workarounds.
"So I don't think we're ever actually going to see FaceTime as an open standard," Gruber said. "But I think the sentiment that drove Jobs to want it to be an open standard applies to the idea of releasing iMessage for Android. Apple doesn't need to rely on platform-exclusive lock-in."
Earlier this year, in what ultimately turned out to be a bogus rumor, it was claimed that Apple was planning to debut iMessage for Android at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Such a move would not be unprecedented for Apple — Â last year, the company brought its Apple Music subscription service to Android devices. It features elements of Google's Material Design.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
56 Comments
Could be useful for "mixed" families or Android users with mostly iOS friends. Otherwise it's hard to see why people would use it unless the user experience is really that much better. Same goes for Apple Music on Android. Same goes for Allo on Android - the only real reason to use it now is for Assistant and in future because Google will force it on people.
I still don't see a single benefit for Apple to release an Android version of iMessage. I say this as a user and as a shareholder.
NO.
If iKnockoff users want the real experience they need to buy a real iPhone.
Maybe they open iCloud and CloudKit for other platforms? iMessage is build on top of iCloud. Biggest problem for using CloudKit (as a developer) is that it is Apple only. At the moment you release an Android version of you App, you have to move the data to another cloud platform.