iMessage

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iMessage

IMessage logo (Apple Inc.). Png
Basic data

developer Apple
Publishing year October 12, 2011
Current  version from iOS 5.0, from OS X Mountain Lion
(September 19, 2012, July 25, 2012)
operating system iOS, macOS
category Instant messaging
License proprietary
German speaking Yes
www.apple.com/de/ios/messages/

iMessage is an instant messaging - service of Apple , who iOS and macOS on the App News is available. The service can only be used with Apple products.

history

iMessage was introduced by Scott Forstall on June 6, 2011 at the WWDC conference . On October 12, 2011, with the release of iOS 5.0, iMessage became available to everyone using this iOS version. With the release of OS X 10.8, iMessage is also available on the Macintosh .

In 2016, with the introduction of iOS 10, extensive changes were added - such as the option to play a game within the chat or to stick stickers. Games and stickers can be downloaded from the company's own AppStore or are automatically installed when apps are installed . Money can be sent through ApplePay Cash.

With the update to iOS 14, users will have additional options, such as replying to messages, similar to those of the competitor WhatsApp.

Functionality

iMessage allows you to exchange text messages, pictures, videos, contacts and other files between two or more devices with iOS, iPadOS or macOS. The messages are sent and received via the Internet ( WLAN or cellular network) and are covered by the costs of data transmission. In contrast to SMS or MMS , there are no fees for individual messages.

Devices with iOS and iPadOS can send and receive messages up to 10 MB in size, under macOS the limit is 100 MB. When registering for the iMessage service, the user's Apple ID or phone number is used. For the first activation on the iPhone, an SMS is sent to a central server with a phone number in Great Britain . There are one-time costs for this, which usually only appear on the user's bill when abroad, since the mobile phone providers in Germany allow customers to register free of charge.

IMessage users can be contacted using both their Apple ID and their telephone number. With iOS 6, the possibility was introduced to synchronize messages between all devices regardless of the selected variant. For example, messages sent to the phone number appear on a Macintosh computer. Messages via iMessage can be sent and received with the respective message app in iOS and macOS. In order to be able to differentiate between chargeable SMS / MMS and free iMessage, the latter are marked in color (blue). If the use of iMessage is not possible because the respective device currently has no access to the Internet, iPhone devices automatically switch to the transmission of a message as a classic SMS / MMS (green), provided that the iPhone user has switched to SMS / MMS in the iPhone has agreed.

Users can see whether the conversation partner is currently writing an answer. Sent messages are displayed as to whether they have been successfully delivered and whether they have been read. The latter assumes that the recipient has activated this first. The sender is informed about sent but undelivered messages by a red exclamation mark next to the message; delivery at a later point in time does not take place automatically. As long as a message has not been sent as an iMessage, the iOS user has the option of subsequently sending it as an SMS by tapping the message for a few seconds and then selecting the "Send as SMS" option.

technology

Scott Forstall said during the presentation of iMessage that the service is based on Apple's push notification system. According to the Apple blog Apple Insider , iMessage is based on the XMPP protocol PubSub (Publish and Subscribe), just like push notifications.

With iOS 5, Apple has integrated the push, iMessage and Facetime notifications into a uniform system with the help of PubSub. This also has the advantage that only a single connection to the server has to be maintained.

Apple states that all communication via iMessage is end-to-end encrypted with a 128-bit AES key . Since Apple has not yet fully disclosed how iMessage works, its security has not yet been verified by independent scientists.

Others

The radio network operator e * Message, which offers the E * Cityruf , among other things , defended itself in 2018 in a procedure before the Regional Court of Braunschweig against Apple . The company saw a risk of confusion with the short message service iMessage. E * Message has been using its brand since 2000, Apple only launched the iMessage product in 2011. E * Message wanted Apple not to use the name iMessage for professional applications. In November 2018, the Braunschweig Regional Court dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that, since the E before Message simply means electronic, product names that have an E added, such as: B. eBook, are not protectable. In addition, because of the sound (the E is pronounced like an “i”, the I like an “ai”), the two names cannot be confused.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Andreas Floemer: OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: 10 hidden new functions. (No longer available online.) In: t3n. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012 ; Retrieved August 4, 2012 .
  2. ↑ iOS 10: Innovations, features and details about the new iPhone and iPad operating system. October 10, 2016, accessed June 26, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Joerg Geiger: iOS 14 beta for the iPhone: Apple is releasing features that are long overdue. Retrieved June 26, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Patrick Beuth: Apple cannot replace SMS either. In: time online. November 29, 2011, accessed September 8, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Apple WWDC 2011 (Jun 6, 2011) - (6/8). ( Memento of April 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Youtube; Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  6. ^ Daniel Eran Dilger: Inside Apple's move to open up SMS-style messaging to non-mobile clients. In: appleinsider.com. June 7, 2011, accessed November 11, 2011 .
  7. ↑ Apple Whitepaper iOS Security February 2014
  8. ↑ Apple's Commitment to Customer Privacy. In: apple.com. June 16, 2013. Retrieved June 17, 2013 .
  9. ^ Leo Becker: iMessage: Berlin company e * Message fails with lawsuit against Apple. In: Heise online. Retrieved August 12, 2019 .