Key Highlights
- Sunbird is an iMessage-compatible app for Android.
- The company is temporarily shutting down due to security issues.
- Sunbird partnered with Nothing and released the Nothing Chats App, which was also removed from the Play Store for the same reasons.
Only a week after the Nothing Chats app launch, the company had to remove it from the Google Play Store and now its partner company Sunbird is shutting down the messaging platform, too. Users have been notified that it will temporarily shut down due to multiple security vulnerabilities that have been affecting the service.
Sunbird is the developer of Nothing’s iMessage-compatible messaging app Nothing Chat. After a lot of criticism due to privacy concerns, the app has already been removed from the Google Play Store. After the formal shutdown, Sunbird has also taken down universal Sunbird: iMessage for Android from the Play Store. For those who are unaware, in 2022, Sunbird was launched aimed to provide Android smartphone consumers with iMessage compatibility.
Now the company has come to a decision and notified its users about the app’s hold. The push notification stated, “Dear Sunbird User. We have decided to pause Sunbird usage for now while we investigate security concerns. We will update you when we are ready to proceed.” Therefore, it is temporarily suspending its usage in order to safeguard private information. “Good afternoon everyone. We are investigating the security issues raised in the last 24 hours. In an abundance of caution and to protect your confidential data, we are shutting down Sunbird Media temporarily. We will keep you posted. Thank you & sincere apologies, for the inconvenience,” if further stated.
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Recently it came into the limelight when it collaborated with Nothing and released a new chat software called Nothing Chat. The iMessage-compatible Android App is exclusive to Nothing Phone 2. The users were allowed to text or MMS to iOS users via the RCS protocol and it showed up in blue bubbles. But as soon as it was launched it caught the eye and users started raising concerns over the programme’s privacy and security. It is being criticised for sending Apple ID data through HTTP instead of the safer HTTPS protocol. Note that Nothing Chats App is powered by Sunbird and when the messages, images and videos received through its system are unencrypted. Therefore the SMS or MMS sent or received through Sunbird’s system is public.
