Sunbird shuts down app 'for now' after Nothing's iMessage integration announcement

Sunbird, the app that brings iMessage to Android, has temporarily shut down its service over “security concerns,” as first seen on Reddit. In a notice to users, Sunbird says it has “decided to pause Sunbird usage for now.” At the same time, it investigates reports that its messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted.

Just Got This Notification For Security Concerns
byu/nascarrocks inSunbird

Sunbird launched in 2022 as a messaging app that attempts to put all the messaging apps in one. It has only been available to those who sign up for its waitlist, touting numerous privacy features, like end-to-end encryption, no message data collection, and no ads.

Last week, Sunbird partnered with Nothing, the phone brand owned by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, on the launch of Nothing Chats. The Sunbird-powered messaging service is supposed to let owners of the Phone 2 send texts via iMessage. Surprisingly, it was pulled from the Google Play Store just one day after its launch. Well, it doesn’t sound surprising anymore.

Nothing said it had to fix “several bugs” within the app at the time. But users bashed them for claiming security concerns as bugs.

Sunbird still hasn’t commented on the app’s shutdown, but its message to users says, “We will update you when we are ready to proceed.” The app is no longer listed on the Google Play Store even though it was available to download last month, per an archived page version.