iPhone texting on Windows via a macOS VM on Linux (Phew)

I figured I’d start a new topic instead of continuing to muck up the iPhone 13 thread.

My current biggest gripe with iPhones is that you can’t text from a Windows PC.

@stusser recommended a Linux PC running a macOS VM:

This would be a bit onerous, but I happen to have a little Intel NUC (Core i7-6770/16GB RAM/256GB SSD) I could use for the project. It’s tiny and I can slip it on the back of my PC tower under my desk, and barely notice it. Uses very little power as well.

Installing Ubuntu on there was super easy, and it’s now installing macOS via a SNAP install of a package named sosumi. That was as easy as typing ‘sudo snap install sosumi’.

I did then need to edit a config file to grant the virtual machine more memory and drive space. But then, launching sosumi allows me to download and install Catalina from the web via Apple’s installer. This is all in service of eventually running AirMessage that in turn will allow me to access texts on the iPhone from any web browser. So, I can work on my PC and reply to texts from a Windows browser. This makes the iPhone actually viable for me.

A lot of work to get the equivalent functionality built into Google Messages, the default Android texting/messaging app, but that’s what Friday nights are for! (for nerds)

Time for me to walk the dog, but we’ll see if macOS actually boots when I get back…

Nerd.

:)

It works! I’m able to text via the Airmessage web page in Windows (or from anywhere).

I’ll post a couple more pics over the weekend.

I still need to work on automation, so if the mini PC loses/regains power it boots, the macOS VM boots, and Airmessage auto-starts, but as of now it’s looking good.

Pretty cool, right?

A remote connection from Windows to Ubuntu, running macOS Catalina. That’s the latest version supported by sosumi, at least AFAICT, but more than adequate for my purposes.

You can VNC directly into the Mac VM too, a bit quicker. Don’t need to do that often though.

I do have a remote connection straight to the Mac. The Ubuntu screenshot was for illustrative purposes. :-)

… nerd!
Not like I enjoy a good, minimalistic desktop screenshot ¬_¬

I was looking the issue up, and it boggles the mind you have to jailbreak your phone to send SMS on a non-Apple computer.
Freaking VNCing a Mockintosh VM seems like the easiest way. What a stupid world.

No you don’t need to VNC into the mac, you just run airmessage on the mac VM and then you can get to your iMessages in a web browser or android app.

I thought iMessage had been long dead :O

iMessage is really popular in the US, Canada and…Australia? Not sure about that last one.

Younger/wealthier people especially use it; I think iPhone approaches 80% market share for major cohorts of teens and 20s here.

Other than being iOS-specific, iMessage is best in class. Signal would be better but it requires a phone number to work.

I’m sure iMessage has got cute aspects, but all I care about is being able to text from my PC if I’m using an iPhone.

Well, you’re all set now!

Yup. I’m certain I’ll head back to Android soon, but it’s great to have this setup in my back pocket for my iPhone meanderings.

Airmessage has an android app!

I think this whole project is pretty cool, by the way. I have a Mac that could run Airmessage but I’m going to try setting this up on my PC as I’ve the spare RAM and cores.

Why would you go to the trouble and waste all that ram and power when you could just run a program on your Mac?

LOL. Yeah, but if I’m using Android, why would I care about iMessaging? Because iPhone users don’t like green? :)

FYI, I set it up on the spare mini NUC computer, running linux, because the word was that it’s a much bigger PITA to set up a macOS VM on a Windows host. Also the NUC was sitting around so might as well be put it to good use!