iMessage

Apple’s ‘transparent texting’ tech aims to make it safer to walk and text

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 20, 2018

Last week, the United States Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application entitled 'Transparent Texting' that Apple filed in late 2012. In it, the company proposes to replace the background image of messaging applications with a live video feed from the device's camera.

This effect would create the illusion that the device has a transparent display, allowing users to see what lies in front of them while they are texting. The goal of the invention is to make it safer for iPhone (and other mobile device) users to text and perform other functions while walking...

iOS 8: better inter-app sharing, improvements to Messages, Notification Center, CarPlay and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 14, 2014

Continuing on his series of iOS 8 scoops, the usually reliable Apple blogger Mark Gurman is out with a new story offering alleged new findings pertaining to iOS 8's Notification Center, Messages, Game Center, Voice Memos, CarPlay and inter-app communication.

The latter is obviously the highlight of the report because unlike Android, iOS has been plagued with very limited inter-app sharing. As a result, operations that are normally trivial on Android are virtually impossible on iOS.

For instance, there's no way to edit a photo in one app and send it, say, to the Instagram app without having to go through the cumbersome process of exporting the image to your Camera roll first and then manually importing it into Instagram.

According to the report, iOS 8 could finally fix this problem. Jump past the fold for the full reveal...

Apple: ‘several billion’ iMessages sent daily, Apple TV raked in $1 billion last year

Cody Lee ∙ February 28, 2014

As expected, Apple held its 2014 shareholders meeting on its Cupertino campus this afternoon. Apple executives were on hand, as were the company's board of directors, to reassure investors that things are on track for another successful year, and to field shareholder questions.

Most of the meeting was filled with the usual dreck: approving and rejecting proposals, reelecting board members, and so on, but things began to liven up when Tim Cook began dropping numbers. Keep reading for a roundup of some of the most interesting points from the meeting...

How to send iMessages from any web browser on any operating system

Joe Rossignol ∙ January 29, 2014

Following in the footsteps of successful cross-platform messaging services like BlackBerry Messenger and WhatsApp, iMessage was released in late 2011 as a way for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users to send unlimited messages between each other. Apple then went on to release Messages for OS X Mountain Lion the following year, allowing Mac users to join the conversation.

But what if you're a Windows or Linux user, or you're away on travel without access to the Mac you normally use? Worry not, as Remote Messages has been updated with support for iOS 7 and 64-bit devices. The popular jailbreak tweak developed by Beast Soft is a browser-based front end for the Messages app on iOS devices. Find out what that means ahead…

SMS Stats 2: monitor SMS statistics on a global and individual contact basis

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

I've never thought of myself as a big text messenger, but I was quite surprised to see how many text messages that I've sent and received over the life of my iPhone. As it turns out, I've sent and received a combined 17,000+ text messages—way more than I expected.

Chances are you'll too be surprised when you see your text message statistics, and there's a brand new jailbreak tweak called SMS Stats 2 that makes it super easy to view them.

Southwest Airlines now offering in-flight iMessage access for $2 per day

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 6, 2017

Good news for folks planning to do some holiday traveling later this month. Southwest Airlines is celebrating its move to offer gate-to-gate Wi-Fi service with a new in-flight iMessaging plan.

Starting today, Southwest will let any user that has iOS 5 or later running on their device to use iMessage for just $2, thus allowing them to stay connected to friends and family while in the air...

This jaw-dropping concept totally reimagines Apple’s dull OS X Messages app

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 14, 2013

The iDB team very much depends on Apple's Messages app as our day-to-day communications tool to keep everyone on the same page. Disregarding for a moment the ongoing iMessage reliability issues, the Messages app that comes bundled with OS X feels terribly outdated both design and feature-wise, even in Mavericks.

Basically nothing has changed since the iChat days apart from iMessage integration and a few questionable UI tweaks adding up to the overall clunkiness.

Thinking differently about the software, Palo Alto, California-based user interface designer Denis Pakhaliuk has envisioned a remarkable concept which has immediately left me speechless and wanting for more.

The awesomeness is right after the break...

Video details how Apple can read your iMessages

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 18, 2013

Responding to a Quarkslab white paper made public at the Hack the Box conference yesterday - which claims that researchers have successfully intercepted iMessage exchanges - Apple felt compelled to issue a written statement reiterating the company's stance that it can't read any one's iMessage even if it wanted to because it doesn't have access to the public keys used to encrypt communication (AES, RSA, and ECDSA algorithms).

The assumed message interception reportedly allows attackers to seamlessly change the sent message before it arrives and thereby impersonate the sender. Apple's claim that "iMessage is not architected to allow Apple to read messages" is now brought into question as the researchers released video evidence of the vulnerability...

Apple reiterates it can’t read your iMessages even if it wanted to

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 18, 2013

Yesterday's report by Quarkslab, a penetration testing company, has caused quite a stir among privacy watchers as iOS hacker Pod2g and Quarkslab's team of researchers claimed at the Hack the Box conference in Kuala Lumpur they had successfully intercepted iMessage exchanges, indicating Apple has access to the public keys used to encrypt communication.

Given the ongoing NSA scare, Apple was quick to go on the record to dispute the claim, arguing end-to-end encryption employed to protect eavesdropping on iMessages communication is so secure that even the company itself cannot decrypt it...

Researchers claim Apple has the ability to access encrypted iMessages

Cody Lee ∙ October 17, 2013

Following the June report claiming that several tech companies were actively participating in the NSA's PRISM data mining program, Apple issued a statement regarding government information requests and user privacy.

In the statement, the company suggested it was unable to access or decrypt iMessage messages, alleviating fears that Apple could monitor those conversations. But according to a team of researchers, that may not be the case...

This iMessage prank got me going for a while

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 28, 2017

Earlier this week, Jeff played a really good prank on me. As I received a message from him, I opened up the Messages application and couldn't see anything but a typing indicator. So I waited patiently for Jeff to finish typing, figuring that Messages were having yet some other issues, which could have explained why I received an alert, yet didn't see any message.

Long story short, Jeff got me pretty good, and here is how you can get your friends too...

Apple says it’s aware of iMessage issue and is working on a fix

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Since the release of iOS 7 last month, users have been complaining of issues activating iMessage. What's more, out of those who have been able to activate the service, some have been experiencing problems sending and receiving messages.

Well the good news is, Apple is aware of a glitch in the new firmware that is causing the disruption of iMessage activity and is working on it. The company tells The Wall Street Journal a fix will be available in an upcoming software update...