The Dell one was the same thing, Intel bought it. It’s their proprietary technology; Apple doesn’t want anyone to do it, and nobody really knows how it works.
Well, someone does, but it isn’t public knowledge.
Interesting. It seems like if it’s possible then people will figure it out, but yeah, Dell had that app available for quite some time and still no copy-cats. Must be some secret!
Yep, it doesn’t remember between sessions. It’s useful in the moment for typing conversations on your PC, but it’s no iMessage replacement.
It’s a closed API. Shortsighted on Apple’s part. I think they think people will buy Macs just to say in the messaging ecosystem. In fact, they’d likely benefit from more Windows users being exposed to their better software. (As opposed to iTunes. :-) )
Microsoft has this weird promotional relationship with Android. They have Phone Link, and they have that Android runtime thing for Win 11 now. I think it’s a case of “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” – they want to support a phone platform since their own efforts failed so many times. Android has more users worldwide (so Phone Link supports over 70% of the phone market), and it’s perceived as less of a threat than Apple. Plus, hugely, Android is open-source and iOS is closed AF.
Yes, this was discussed above, but clearly Intel has some knowledge of how to make it work, because it’s not quite closed enough to prevent them from doing it.
Right, but you asked why there aren’t multiple clients. If it was an open API, we’d have stuff like Trillian and the other third-party chat apps we enjoyed back in the AIM/ICQ/etc days. This apparently took a level of reverse-engineering that was worthy of Dell and Intel spending money on it. And all that to get what’s a pretty mediocre messaging experience compared to just using a keyboard-equipped iPad or MacBook as a phone companion.
Smaller devs like AirMessage figured it out but Dell and Intel have more lawyers
No, they didn’t. Airmessage runs on a mac and simply manipulates the iMessage window. Works great, but reverse-engineering the iMessage protocol (or really, the continuity layer between iOS and macOS) it does not do.
Nope, MediaTek.
Seems to be working - can send and receive iMessages without issues. Biggest problems are:
- Message history doesn’t stick around in the app. Every time I open the app it’s a blank slate
- Can’t send images in iMessages at all. Not sure about receiving them
Neat utility, but still a very long ways away from the native integration Apple does on Mac of course.
It’s not iMessage. It’s sms
Very flaky and super limited. It’s better than nothing if you’re an iPhone/Windows user. The lack of support for SMS/Messaging from a (non-Mac) web browser or native app is one of the big reasons my occasional dabbling w/ iPhones never sticks.
Yeah, it also has a user interface that’s seriously reminiscent of Windows 3.1. As a content designer, I’m offended. :)
I briefly tried running a Mac OS VM just to run iMessage in a window on my PC. (Note to lawyers: Actual Macbook on same desk, turned off. :) It was ridiculously sluggish and not really usable. This at least gives some basic texting functionality without using many system resources.
When I sent message using it they sent ad iMessages, blue bubble and all. Not green SMSs
I don’t get how this app can be in the system tray, but it’s not actually open. You have to open the app to have it running.
So as the days have gone on, I think this is causing some system crashes on my Ryzen laptop. This laptop (Lenovo Slim 7 ProX) has had the occasional crash since I got it a couple months ago, but I’ve experienced far more of them after installing Intel Unison.
The crashes almost always happen to coincide with Bluetooth not working. First, my bluetooth mouse stops responding, then I go to Bluetooth settings on my PC and the entire thing freezes up.
Guess I shouldn’t be surprised 😅
Hopefully this stops after uninstalling Unison!
No issues here, but I have an Intel Bluetooth card. And I would guess they’ve done no real testing outside of intel hardware, given this is supposed to be an OEM Intel utility.
It’s been nice to be able to respond to a few messages while using my PC, but overall, given its limitations it’s just made me resent Apple keeping iMessage closed even more. Why hasn’t Europe ruined this for Apple yet?
MS finally updated Phone Link to support the iPhone, so Unison gone bye-bye. I will not miss its quirky, Windows XP-ish experience.
Seems to work better than Unison for messages and notifications. No file transfer or copy/paste, though, so still stuck using OneDrive to move files back and forth which is a pain. Can’t even message myself and do it that way.
Does this have the same limitation that you can’t see the whole message thread, only messages that came while this was connected?
Yeah airmessage is still much better.
And is irrelevant for iPhone users.
I looked at the app on the Windows store and saw no mention of iPhones, just Android. What am I missing?