An app made by phone manufacturer Nothing that lets Android users message iPhone owners as if they were using an iPhone has been pulled just days after it was launched.
Nothing Chats let owners of phones like the Nothing Phone (2) send iPhone owners messages that would show up as a “blue bubble” notification rather than the green bubble you’d usually see from an Android phone.
However, the app has been removed from the Google Play store after it was found to have major privacy and security issues.
All popular messaging apps use end-to-end encryption, meaning any messages or files sent between people are only accessible to the person sending, and the person receiving them.
According to a breakdown by app developer Dylan Roussel, Nothing Chats made every message, file and image sent, and the contact information of anyone using the app, vulnerable to access by strangers online.
“The personal information of 2300+ users is accessible. To prove it's accessible, I downloaded one,” Roussel wrote on Twitter/X.
Roussel also found the app didn't use end-to-end encryption, which Nothing claimed it did at release. “This is probably the biggest 'privacy nightmare' I've seen by a phone manufacturer in years,” he said.
Nothing says it has delayed the app to fix bugs, smoothing over that these are fundamental issues with the way Nothing Chats operates.
“We’ve removed the Nothing Chats beta from the Play store and will be delaying the launch until further notice to work with Sunbird to fix several bugs. We apologize for the delay and will do right by our users,” the Nothing website reads.
Sunbird Messaging is the company that produced the software behind Nothing Chats. Nothing’s statement suggests that while there’s no malicious intent behind Nothing Chats on their end, the company did not perform its due diligence in checking the app would not leak sensitive user data all over the internet.
It was an attempt to appear to be disruptive, which is very much Nothing head Carl Pei’s style. His pinned tweet is one from AI boss Sam Altman, saying “you cannot outaccelerate me”.
However, Nothing Chats’ concept will be moot soon enough anyway. Apple has announced its plan to use a common standard called RCS, rich communication services, next year.
It will allow for iMessage-style communication, potentially complete with read receipts, between iPhone and Android users.
“Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association,” an Apple spokesperson told 9to5Mac.
"We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.”
Apple has not announced exactly when this support will come in, but a major new version of iOS is likely to arrive alongside new iPhones in September 2024.
