The Nothing Phone (2) has become the first Android smartphone to receive official Apple iMessage support. The official iMessage support is now available with the Nothing Phone (2) based on the Nothing Chatts app.

Nothing Chats are designed to allow the smartphone to switch seamlessly to iPhones. It is an alternative to the Sunbird app and Google continues to encourage Apple to make iMessage compatible with Android. The Nothing Chats seeks to overcome the iMessage challenge for Android smartphones. Nothing says it has developed the app in partnership with Sunbird but it excludes Sunbird’s waitlist exclusivity.

The Nothing Chats app will go live on Google Play Store on November 17. Compatibility of the Nothing Chats is currently limited to the Nothing Phone (2). Users must link their Apple iCloud account to Nothing Chats for its integration with iMessage. The Nothing Phone (2) is available via Amazon starting at $699.

There are privacy issues related to the Nothing Chats. Although Nothing has stated that it does not cache messages on servers, a malicious third-party entity could theoretically assess personal data.

The new app lacks emoji reactions, message editing, and read receipts, as present in iMessage. Apart from limiting usage of Nothing Chats to the Phone (2), the app will only be available in the US, UK, Canada, and the EU. The availability of the Nothing Chats app is expected to spread to other markets subsequently. Additionally, the Nothing Phone (1) could also be integrated with Nothing Chats.

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