This is an interesting workaround.

People forget that part of the point of different colors for iMessage vs SMS was to indicate that iMessage is encrypted and SMS isn't. It's also a handy marketing thing, but there is a technical justification for making a visible distinction.

AirMessage is basically a proxy that strips encryption for Android devices:

"AirMessage leverages the power of your Mac computer in order to route messages to and from Apple's iMessage servers. The server is to be installed on a computer at home, and will pass messages to and from your smartphone to allow the usage of iMessage and other installed services."

I don't think that's what's happening here. I think AirMessage is just functioning as an iMessage client by using the Messages app on the Mac as a proxy. It would be no different from sitting physically in front of the computer. You can only read the messages off the screen and you can only send messages through Message itself.

I think we're saying the same thing. :-)

I would imagine that the AirMessage Android app is actually in communication with the AirMessage server on your Mac. It uses some automation (perhaps via something like https://github.com/shusain93/OSXMessageProxy) to talk the the Messages app. The connection is encrypted from there to the other side, as if you were sitting in front of your Mac. This happens in reverse the other way.

Hacky, and now you own the weak links in the E2E encryption chain. But a neat workaround, in a pinch.

Yes, it looks like we are. :)

Does it re-encrypt them when sending, though? I would have to assume they've at least looked at doing that, otherwise it's a giant security hole.

See my peer response. I would imagine all traffic from the Mac<->other device is encrypted. You're responsible for securing the Android<->Mac link.

I'm coming from the other side, I've been feeling more and more of a desire to go back to Android. I had a pretty gnarly experience where my cellular antenna stopped working and apple gave surprisingly poor customer support. I've had really annoying wifi issues on the latest iphone xs as well as the latest apple tv. Overall, I get the feeling that things in general are headed in the wrong direction and would love to get away from them. I'm pretty married to OS X for development but otherwise I would like to get away. The biggest thing holding me back from switching is messages and the integration between ios and os x. It seems so silly but that's where I'm at.

I'll bite. Why is Apple harmful to capitalism? If you have an actual argument for that point, why is harm to capitalism a bad thing?

Less competition is bad for most people.i suppose it's a utilitarian viewpoint.

do you appear as an iOS user to actual iOS users? I can't tell from the website

Given that the installation guide[1] says you need "A computer running OS X 10.10 Yosemite or higher (and a place for it to stay)" I'm pretty sure they are just relaying your messages through an actual desktop iMessage instance, so probably. I imagine a lot of Android users don't have a computer running MacOS to do this though, so while a cool solution, it probably doesn't help the majority of people.

1: https://airmessage.org/guide/