Private Messaging Apps 'Scrambling' to Overhaul Software Following Apple Privacy Changes

[Swift]

I use Threema with a group of friends who do not have iOS. So no, I can’t “just use iMessage”!

You can send them SMS by default. Not encrypted.

 

[Stromos]

Read the article. Signal purposely did something the wrong way in order to steal your data and sell it to advertisers. They can still have an encrypted product by doing it the right way. Why is this so hard to understand?
I did have to laugh out loud when you said open source products are more "trustable" really? Hilarious.

The issue is the way Apple Fixed the API was to stop those that were stealing data. That was not Signal. Apple broke something else stopping the other bad players. The API was the only way to see encrypted messages being sent without opening apps. It's also the only way I can see a Signal message on my apple watch. Now developers have to code around it because there isn't a PushAPI that should be there.

This change makes all encrypted messengers unable to show messages on Apple Watch. That wasn't stealing data this problem is collateral damage. Everyone crying about its misuse of an API. It just means Apple crippled apps. The only fix is to now have all apps just say "new message" open app to view. That's stupid.

 

[maxfromdenmark]

after “Siri gate”: trust no one

 

[heov]

Or, now hear me out... Or you can just use iMessage...

Just my two cents

Love this post. If this isn't anti-competition, I don't know what is lol. Let me guess, we should also use Apple Music? Apple Maps? Once they break that?

What abkut those that don't use iMessage... like you know, most of the world lol. Let me guess, they're not worthy to message?

I'm fine with Apple revoking/changing APIs, Apple should develop APIs, but maybe they should offer new APIs to implement these features while maintaining privacy they want.

 

[2984839]

Read the article. Signal purposely did something the wrong way in order to steal your data and sell it to advertisers. They can still have an encrypted product by doing it the right way. Why is this so hard to understand?
I did have to laugh out loud when you said open source products are more "trustable" really? Hilarious.

This is completely and utterly untrue. Signal is using the API to decrypt its encrypted messages.

 

[justperry]

That’s Signal.

Don’t understand why anybody uses WhatsApp when Signal is built using the same well-vetted encryption library and is open-source, cross-platform, and has no connection to Facebook.

What about people being...Lazy...not knowing any other Apps...don't know how to install an App...don't care amongst other reasons

So just use SMS then, problem solved. If people dont hold a line, the stranglehold facebook has on communication wont ever end.

Group sms...?!

Don't be to shure on Facebooks stranglehold, I think it will be history in a few years from now, there are already plans to split them up.

after “Siri gate”: trust no one

The one that does not expose your identity....

 

[happyprozak]

Well iMessage feels heavy, it is bogged down and is so slow to send images and video, sometimes taking minutes to complete. The cloud syncing is also spotty, many times I find when I move to my computer the conversation is complete.

Personally, I prefer Telegram for many reasons.

I recently started trying out Telegram. I prefer the clean look of iMessage but I almost always love Apple UI so I am biased. Telegram has some neat features going for it and to me, the most important is cross platform support. It's amazing that you can be on just about any modern OS and have full access to your messages and history. It's one of the things I love about iMessage, of course in the Apple world you are limited to Apple devices.

For any messaging app though, the biggest hurdle is adoption. Telegram can be the greatest messenger to ever grace a computer but if there's a limited number of your contacts on it then you are stuck.

I am in the United States and iMessage is huge here. If it wasn't for iMessage I would probably give Android a shot.

 

[feldpos]

How about it means if you use Signal or any other encrypted app your Apple Watch is now useless? You have to take out your phone and open the app to view the messages. Apple watch will just say new message and that's it.

> use encrypted messenger
> show message content in notifications

nice opsec bro

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

I heard Apple is also scrambling to update iMessage...

Only if by "update" you mean add more memoji/animoji features.
[doublepost=1567721855][/doublepost]

Seems like a new API should be developed specifically for encryption key pushes

I agree and the ideal scenario would be to provide a solution for those legitimate purposes of encryption. But this will likely come a year or two down the track when it's too late and unhelpful to developers yet again.

 

[Labeno]

I'm so glad that privacy is getting more important over the last few years. I'm sick of capitalism surveillance, identify theft, phone call pestering, and just companies generally knowing everything about me every minute of the day. I know some people seem to love targeted advertising, but I don't want any advertising. I'm sick of it.

 

[puggsly]

Replace Apple with NSA the privacy conspiracy groups will be in full swing once some of the only open source encrypted means of communication go away and I don't really blame them. I just got my family and friends to switch to Signal not looking forward to going back to FB messenger or traditional text messages.

There is no reason to switch, Signal will stop using that API and use a more proper one to handle encryption. Apple is just cracking down on apps that used the wrong API just because it allowed for constant background processing. There is a right way to do this and iMessage uses it. There is no reason to leave a background process running to decrypt messages and doing so allow some applications to gather user data (and they did). So Apple shuts this door and developers have to use the correct one.

 

[puggsly]

The API was the only way to see encrypted messages being sent without opening apps. It's also the only way I can see a Signal message on my apple watch.

This change makes all encrypted messengers unable to show messages on Apple Watch.

That is not what is being said. Yes the VOIP API allowed for programs to run in the background indefinitely and still will if you are supporting VOIP but you can't use that API for other things. That said there are workarounds that will still allow encrypted messages, or that is what the article implies. I guess we will see, what Apple and the developers come up with to fix this issue, but the article just said that re-writing things without the background process will be a lot of work. Not that it will eliminate any functionality.

 

[MrAperture]

I tried that..twice, ditching Whatsapp, not easy, some friends/Family actually got pissed off by me telling them I wouldn't use it anymore, they refused to install other Apps.
See how engraved Facebook is in most of their lives, they have no idea what's being collected and how it influences them....just look at Brexit/US elections/Facebook-Cambridge Analytica.

As for the Topic, good on ya (Apple) to stick to it.

I’ve have the same experience with some of my friends. They say all the apps are the same and refuse to install anything else besides WhatsApp since everyone they group chat with is also using that. Since we aren’t doing anything illegal, they don’t care about privacy.

 

[Lalatoon]

Sketchy developers are in last min panic mode now

You can't call Signal a sketchy app specially they created the Signal Protocol deployed on a lot of secure messaging application. One could say Signal security is much better than Apple iMessage because it is open source and is routinely audited and on top of that even Bruce Schneier advocated for it.

 

[Lalatoon]

The problem here is lack of both communication and planning.

If Apple wanted to prevent that use of the API, then it should have done that. Instead, Apple let people user their APIs in that way for years, then after people have built big businesses on that functionality, they suddenly just take it away.

The correct approach would have been to talk with the big developers, asking why they were using the API in that way, then building out a solution for that use case alongside sunsetting unauthorized uses.

I havent tried iOS SDK, so basically there is no API for background process that forces developer to use a workaround from a different API intended for a different usage?

 

[alphaod]

So developers have been abusing the functionality and now Apple is restricting its use? Doesn't sound like anything wrong.

 

[cmaier]

If WhatsApp becomes unusable on iOS or if Facebooks pulls the app out of spite that is the end of the iPhone in Europe. But as usual the Americans forget they’re only 5% of the world’s population.

As usual people make straw man arguments.

Nobody is saying WhatsApp will be unusable or that Facebook will pull its app out of spite.

 

[aaarrrgggh]

This is a pain. The way iMessages deals with telephone numbers makes SIM swapping painful when traveling. This is what pushed me onto WhatsApp and Signal. It is actually nice to segment communications by app to a degree...

Add in cross-platform support, and iMessages is really painful.

 

[macduke]

Scrambling? Really? They knew about these changes on June 3rd. It's September 5th, iOS 13 ships in like a week, and they are scrambling now? Honestly?

 

[iosiseasy]

I recently started trying out Telegram. I prefer the clean look of iMessage but I almost always love Apple UI so I am biased. Telegram has some neat features going for it and to me, the most important is cross platform support. It's amazing that you can be on just about any modern OS and have full access to your messages and history. It's one of the things I love about iMessage, of course in the Apple world you are limited to Apple devices.

For any messaging app though, the biggest hurdle is adoption. Telegram can be the greatest messenger to ever grace a computer but if there's a limited number of your contacts on it then you are stuck.

I am in the United States and iMessage is huge here. If it wasn't for iMessage I would probably give Android a shot.

totally agree. Adoption is key. I have worked on it and all my friends have switched over. Groups are so much better in Telegram over iMessage. iMessage groups are torture to me. In telegram I have groups that may have the exact same people for different topics.

Also, the fact you can drop iMessage stickers anywhere in the chat drives me nuts. Thankfully no one ever uses iMessage stickers in the few remaining g folks who I chat with.

 

[DoctorTech]

Considering the recent exploits disclosed by Google that left iOS devices vulnerable to deep hacks by passive web sites for years perhaps Apple should be focusing their resources on security and hardening iOS against attacks rather than the more marketing-friendly focus on "privacy", because without security you have no privacy either.

Rene Richie did a great video on the Google Project Zero press release about the iPhone vulnerability. It is worth watching as it shed some interesting light what really happened and how much risk there really was for iPhone users.

 

[rafark]

Or, now hear me out... Or you can just use iMessage...

Just my two cents

 

[digthewell]

Apple is probably the only OS that is taking privacy concerns seriously and making sure Apps fall in line and respect the user's privacy. This is the biggest reason why I would never move to Android.

 

[TimFL1]

....

Apple is giving app developers until April 2020 to comply with the changes to the PushKit API, but developers who want to update their apps for iOS 13 and take advantage of new features must follow PushKit restrictions sooner.

Article Link: Private Messaging Apps 'Scrambling' to Overhaul Software Following Apple Privacy Changes

Great, means WhatsApp will most likely get a dark mode in April 2020. Incredibly mind boggling how slow WhatsApp development is considering the insane userbase and facebook backing...


To anyone saying „just use iMessage“: great advice, if you live in good old murica. Not so feasible when you live outside of the wild west where iPhone is dwarfed by Android. My social circle has like 5 people with iOS devices. Everyone is on WhatsApp and rightfully so, cause providers here killed SMS by imposing obscene fees (barely any contract offers free SMS, let alone MMS) and I‘d rather WhatsApp than SMS over unencrypted channels + lack of essentials like group chats.

 

[CarpalMac]

Telegram is the Tidal of messaging apps. Sounds good, no one cares.

Everyone either uses iMessage, Whatsapp and/or FB Messenger.

I'm managing to get people to care, the majority of my friends now use Telegram. I compare it as Betamax to VHS. Facebook is digital cancer and people are slowly realising it.