iMessage (Unofficially) Comes to Android with This Clever Mac App

Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of using both iOS and Android. While each OS captures my interest in its own unique way, I must concede that I’ve always had a slight favoritism of iOS — mainly because of its stellar performance, seamless UI, continuity features, and of course, iMessage.

Truthfully, for a long time I’ve dreamed of being able to send and receive iMessages on my Galaxy, Droid or Nexus phone — however, the protocol being an Apple exclusive, that’s obviously never been an option despite the rumors and speculation.Until now.

Enter the all-new cross-platform weMessage app for Android and macOS, which effectively (but unofficially) brings Apple’s iMessage to devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop or newer.

What Is weMessage?

weMessage is a combination app and server solution, designed by 16-year-old developer, Roman Scott, to facilitate Apple’s closed messaging platform on Android — using a macOS computer as the “server” to relay messages.

“weMessage is composed of two pieces of software: the Android app itself and a messaging server that I called the weServer,” Scott says in the official release notes, going on to explain that “In order to use weMessage, you need to install the weServer on a Mac computer. The weServer acts as a ‘bridge’ between the Mac computer and your Android device. The weServer is a messaging server that processes and relays iMessages to and from the Android device.”

An Apple computer is the only viable option, Scott says, because the iMessages have to be routed through an Apple device, using an Apple ID email address via one of the company’s mega servers in order to be delivered. He portends “if the weServer supported Windows or Linux, I would not only be violating several EULAs but would be relying on an exploitation that would likely be fixed in the future.”

Are There Any Caveats?

I personally installed weMessage on my Galaxy Note 8 and iMac over the weekend — and while the process of getting it up and running on both devices wasn’t exactly simple, Scott provides a very thorough, step-by-step installation and maintenance walk-through on the official weMessage website.

The app itself works extremely well so far. It’s certainly not the first of such ‘iMessage on Android’ solutions that ever existed — however it’s arguably one of the most seamless and intuitive among them.

Scott promises that he’ll try to succeed where previous developers have failed — in that he’ll work to stay ahead of the curve, continuing support and updates for weMessage in the sad but plausible event Apple finds and moves to block it. This was a major problem for past developers, Scott noted, as Apple would simply block their solutions from functioning via routine OS X or macOS updates.

That won’t be the case with weMessage, Scott insists; however whether the dev actually sticks to his promise remains to be seen.

In the interim, you can learn more about Roman Scott’s $2.99 weMessage app, how to download, install, configure and operate it over on the official weMessage website.

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