Assuming you don't care about the OS. Once I switched away from iOS, I am finding it very hard to go back

How come nobody has reverse engineered the iMessage protocol properly? Is Apple using any hardware stuff to prevent this? I think an unofficial iMessage client appeared a few years ago, but it was very closed source and I don't think it worked for very long

> How come nobody has reverse engineered the iMessage protocol properly?

People have, but changes have been made where the barrier to entry on the crypto/client verification side is sufficiently high a barrier to make it not practical. See next answer for more context.

> Is Apple using any hardware stuff to prevent this?

Yes.

> I think an unofficial iMessage client appeared a few years ago, but it was very closed source and I don't think it worked for very long

The iMessage team scrambled on its release to block it as it leveraged a severe security breach.

Thanks for the insight.

Buy mid-range Motorola phones. This G4 play is the best $150 I've ever spent.

Considering the security & privacy issues plaguing Android, there’s very little reason left to stay on that platform.

Security is probably no better or worse, but Apple has taken a very pro-consumer 180degree turn on privacy in the last year, which is amazing. I have every reason to move, except their subpar feature set on hardware.