Even though Apple now supports RCS to let Android users join in iMessage conversations, the risky Sunbird app is back to persuade them to route everything through its servers anyway. Don't do it to yourself.
Previously on Sunbird... it was an Android app that let users partake in Apple iMessage conversations without a green bubble, and with myriad security problems. It came and it went, and then Apple added RCS support so that Android users could do exactly this without the privacy issues.
Sunbird tried coming back in 2024 having promised to have fixed its security problems, but it really didn't because it really can't. Your data still went through its servers and the company can say all it likes that it doesn't peek, but this remains a firm you've never heard of and are expected to trust.
Now having retreated back into beta testing to brood for a couple of years, Sunbird is reborn yet again. There's no longer a sign-up process or a waiting list, it's launched with various in-app purchases from $2.99 to $24.99, which you can guess must be monthly and annual subscription prices, although the developer sees no reason to tell you that.
What the developer does want you to know is that despite it being available and taking money, it isn't really launched, it's just in an "open beta."
And the developers also say that, well, yes, sure. Apple does support RCS now, but that's not the point.
"The real problem is that an Android user in a group chat still breaks it for everyone: reactions, replies, high-quality video, and group management often just do not work," said Danny Mizrahi, CEO of Sunbird Messaging in a statement. "Sunbird fixes that, so the Android user becomes a full participant, and their iPhone friends get the experience they expect too."
To back this up, Sunbird quotes survey statistics that say "38% of Android users had missed or misunderstood messages because of the incompatibility." We all know people who don't read to the end of a message, it doesn't mean iMessage is broken.
Similarly, "30% had considered switching to an iPhone over pressure and mockery." That's a shame for them, but Sunbird quotes a percentage while ignoring that it can at most be 30% of Americans.
That's because it is only in the US that users can even remember whether a green or a blue bubble means an iPhone without looking. Everywhere else on the planet, the messaging app being used is WhatsApp, and that's equally ugly on iPhone and Android.
So Sunbird is claiming to solve a problem that most global users do not have, and which Apple has already sorted for US users. Sunbird is definitely right that Apple's RCS support isn't perfect, but it will do and it is not exposed to a third-party company.
Notice the line "It Just Works" at bottom left. The company itself admits that you sometimes have to try installing it twice. Image credit: Sunbird.
Then if Sunbird is going to knock Apple for its solution sometimes breaking, it should get its own software sorted first.
"Because Sunbird is in open beta," says the developer, "getting connected can occasionally take a second try."
"Open beta" is just a way of denying responsibility for problems in future lawsuits, it isn't a technical thing that will somehow change when that label is removed.
Talking it up and adding AI
Sunbird's app is now in this "open beta" and available on the Google Play Store where you can easily search for it. We looked at it before and we're not going to do it again as there is no real need.
AppleInsider is not going to give the link to something it so strongly advises against.
Still, according to the company, "more than 181,000 people" signed up to the closed beta. Figures for Android adoption vary widely, but one 2026 source puts the figure at 155 million Americans.
So Sunbird has what it might call potential for growth, and to get there, it is of course going to add AI. The only thing more sure of AI being in an app today is it being promised to come tomorrow.
Consequently, Sunbird Intelligence is coming at some unspecified date later in 2026. It will summarize messages you've missed, presumably through being away rather than technical problems.
It will also, in some way, help users draft a reply, given how hard it is to write a short message or tap an emoji.
Look, you have to applaud a company for keeping on trying even when Apple has removed any real need for it's product. You have to applaud that Sunbird keeps on rising like a phoenix when other similar apps have failed forever.
But this is an app that isn't needed. It's an app that exposes your data to a third party. And it's an app that even the makers can't always get to install correctly.
Other than that, it's fine.
