Texts – One inbox. All your messages (opens in new tab)

(texts.com)

16 pointsbevacqua5y ago37 comments

37 comments

32 comments · 13 top-level

muhammadusman5y ago· 4 in thread

There's so many of these but all are in "early access" phase...seems like they haven't figured out how to do iMessages integration and it's just a nicely designed UI with no real product.

lxgr5y ago

+1, the real challenge here isn't UI design, it's integrating with several messaging services that are actively preventing being integrated in such a way.

johnmorrison5y ago

Exactly

KishanBagaria5y ago

Texts is a live product (landing page has a real screenshot) and it does support iMessage on Mac by connecting to the official process. We've done the most extensive research on it afaik.

tyre5y ago

How are you integrating? What is the "official process" mentioned? As far as I know, there are no Apple APIs built for these integrations.

Are you just connecting to the local SQLite database?

1 more reply

montecarl5y ago· 3 in thread

What I find frustrating is that I cannot read or write SMS or iMessages on my computer (I don't use OSX). I'm not going to be that person who asks all their contacts to message them using some new app. Can this service really interface with iMessage somehow? I thought it was locked down by Apple.

lxgr5y ago

I'm guessing it'll somehow have to scrape the macOS client, with obvious implications. There is no way they'll manage to integrate with the servers directly.

sjtgraham5y ago

> There is no way they'll manage to integrate with the servers directly.

Of course they will be able to do that. It's 100% possible.

1 more reply

ericwood5y ago

Messages.app has a SQLite database that that be queried, I'm imagining they're building off of that.

babelfish5y ago· 3 in thread

Looks like Matrix is really taking off - this is the third "unified messaging interface" app on HN this week.

KishanBagaria5y ago

Texts runs completely locally and isn't based on Matrix. It uses a custom protocol designed in house more suited for bridging. All platform integrations have been developed from the ground up as well.

kitkat_new5y ago

How do you know?

How could it be more suited to bridging than Matrix which had bridging in mind since it's existence?

babelfish5y ago

Good to know, and very cool that it works for iMessage, but using a proprietary protocol for bridging when all of the competitors are using a standardized one that is likely to grow in functionality much faster than yours may not be the best choice.

visviva5y ago· 3 in thread

Signal is conspicuously absent from the list of supported platforms...

KishanBagaria5y ago

Signal integration is in alpha, not launched to users yet.

MAGZine5y ago

There's no open API which is a problem when things are E2E encrypted.

lxgr5y ago

Neither is there for iMessage or WhatsApp.

Most WhatsApp clients rely on scraping the websocket channel used by the official web client, but that requires your phone to be online to send and receive new messages.

I'm assuming iMessage scraping happens on macOS, requiring your mac to be online as well.

sgeisler5y ago· 2 in thread

Which platforms are actually supported? I didn't find that on the landing page. Seems like an interesting product if it works on linux and with Signal etc.

BUT: Stating "Privacy first." as a goal and then requiring to sign up with google is … inconsistent at least (I get that it's easier though).

geoah5y ago

There is a link underneath that allows you to fill in a form with your email

sgeisler5y ago

Thx, I must have missed it (it admittedly is very small ^^)!

stonogo5y ago· 2 in thread

All these messaging startups are really dug in on the idea that nobody uses SMS. I guess that's fine depending on which bubble you live in, but the company who cracks that case stands to gain a lot. And yes, I know there are parts of the world who never use SMS. There are other large parts who do and they have money too.

290830113977785y ago

There's an SMS bridge for Matrix right now, and has been for awhile. Caveats are that I have only seen the Android client when browsing F-Droid, and I haven't tried it myself yet. All the other bridges I do use (Whatsapp, Telegram), however, have been top notch

lxgr5y ago

FWIW, this looks like it's macOS only so far, and by integrating with iMessage it would support SMS as well (at least for iPhone users that have forwarding to iMessage enabled).

johnmorrison5y ago· 2 in thread

Earlier alternate -> https://valyr.io/

Planned support for also Email (first priority), SMS, Signal, matrix, etc

kitkat_new5y ago

details? Advantages over Beeper and this one?

Where are they all coming from suddenly? curious

johnmorrison5y ago

This one has been in dev since over a year ago I think but yeah I have no idea where all the new ones are coming from!

thebiglebrewski5y ago

Wow how much was that domain name?!

XCSme5y ago

My biggest concern is the notifications. I already have problems with multi-device notifications while using directly the messaging platforms (Telegram, FB Messenger, etc.), I think that adding an extra layer on top would make the notifications even less stable (getting same notification on multiple devices even after reading the message, not getting notifications on some devices, not receiving messages, etc.)

kitkat_new5y ago

Advantage over Beeper? HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25848278

psim15y ago

lucasmullens5y ago

"Sign Up" goes straight to logging in with Google, which is pretty jarring since it doesn't even mention Google on the button.

peter-m805y ago

Pidgin fork?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

37 comments

32 comments · 13 top-level

muhammadusman5y ago· 4 in thread

There's so many of these but all are in "early access" phase...seems like they haven't figured out how to do iMessages integration and it's just a nicely designed UI with no real product.

lxgr5y ago

+1, the real challenge here isn't UI design, it's integrating with several messaging services that are actively preventing being integrated in such a way.

johnmorrison5y ago

Exactly

KishanBagaria5y ago

Texts is a live product (landing page has a real screenshot) and it does support iMessage on Mac by connecting to the official process. We've done the most extensive research on it afaik.

tyre5y ago

How are you integrating? What is the "official process" mentioned? As far as I know, there are no Apple APIs built for these integrations.

Are you just connecting to the local SQLite database?

1 more reply

montecarl5y ago· 3 in thread

lxgr5y ago

I'm guessing it'll somehow have to scrape the macOS client, with obvious implications. There is no way they'll manage to integrate with the servers directly.

sjtgraham5y ago

> There is no way they'll manage to integrate with the servers directly.

Of course they will be able to do that. It's 100% possible.

1 more reply

ericwood5y ago

Messages.app has a SQLite database that that be queried, I'm imagining they're building off of that.

babelfish5y ago· 3 in thread

Looks like Matrix is really taking off - this is the third "unified messaging interface" app on HN this week.

KishanBagaria5y ago

kitkat_new5y ago

How do you know?

How could it be more suited to bridging than Matrix which had bridging in mind since it's existence?

babelfish5y ago

visviva5y ago· 3 in thread

Signal is conspicuously absent from the list of supported platforms...

KishanBagaria5y ago

Signal integration is in alpha, not launched to users yet.

MAGZine5y ago

There's no open API which is a problem when things are E2E encrypted.

lxgr5y ago

Neither is there for iMessage or WhatsApp.

Most WhatsApp clients rely on scraping the websocket channel used by the official web client, but that requires your phone to be online to send and receive new messages.

I'm assuming iMessage scraping happens on macOS, requiring your mac to be online as well.

sgeisler5y ago· 2 in thread

Which platforms are actually supported? I didn't find that on the landing page. Seems like an interesting product if it works on linux and with Signal etc.

BUT: Stating "Privacy first." as a goal and then requiring to sign up with google is … inconsistent at least (I get that it's easier though).

geoah5y ago

There is a link underneath that allows you to fill in a form with your email

sgeisler5y ago

Thx, I must have missed it (it admittedly is very small ^^)!

stonogo5y ago· 2 in thread

290830113977785y ago

lxgr5y ago

FWIW, this looks like it's macOS only so far, and by integrating with iMessage it would support SMS as well (at least for iPhone users that have forwarding to iMessage enabled).

johnmorrison5y ago· 2 in thread

Earlier alternate -> https://valyr.io/

Planned support for also Email (first priority), SMS, Signal, matrix, etc

kitkat_new5y ago

details? Advantages over Beeper and this one?

Where are they all coming from suddenly? curious

johnmorrison5y ago

This one has been in dev since over a year ago I think but yeah I have no idea where all the new ones are coming from!

thebiglebrewski5y ago

Wow how much was that domain name?!

XCSme5y ago

kitkat_new5y ago