Hey guys it’s Greg with Apple Explained,and today we’re going to explore how iMessage has evolved since its release in 2011 andhow it contributed to Apple being in a sticky situation with the US government
This topic won last week’s voting poll andif you didn’t get to vote, make sure you’re subscribed, that way the voting polls willshow up right in your activity feed and you can let me know which video you’d like tosee next
So, iMessage is essentially a replacementfor SMS that works between Apple devices
Like all great instant messaging platforms,it allows users to send and receive messages, stickers, emojis, images, and all sorts ofattachments using WiFi, ethernet, or mobile data
In its current form, iMessage works any oniPhone, iPad, and iPod touch running iOS 5 and up or any Mac with OS X Mountain Lionand up
You can register your account to your phonenumber like SMS or to your email address – or to a bunch of email addresses, if that’syour thing
Before I get into the history and some of the controversies that have come up,I want to go a little deeper into what iMessage actually does
So, the iMessage protocol is a binary protocolbased off the Apple Push Notification Service
Messages are encrypted end-to-end and havedelivery receipts that you can access through read receipts
On iPhones, messages can be sent via SMS/MMS,which show up in green text bubbles, or data, which show up as blue
Sent messages show up on the right, replieson the left – pretty intuitive for anyone who’s ever used iMessage or any other messagingapp
One of the nice features over a strict SMSservice is that you can see when another user is typing a message to you
Originally, there were some issues with non-iPhoneusers not receiving messages sent through iMessage, I’ll get into that a little later,but that’s been fixed now and messages sent via data to a non iOS user now get automaticallyconverted to SMS
Alright, so now I’m going to get into theactual history of iMessage
It was first announced at the Apple WorldwideDeveloper’s Conference in 2011
Scott Forstall revealed it during his keynoteon June 6th and it was released in the iOS 5 update just a few months later in October
It was the same year that iCloud, OS X Lion,AirDrop, Launchpad, and Mission Control were announced, so, a lot of important things happenedthat year
This first version was already pretty impressivealready
It was designed to take the place of SMS withoutchanging apps so that users would have a seamless transition to the iMessage protocol, and itincluded the ability to send everything from basic text messages to contact information,real-time locations, and read receipts
It also transferred pictures way faster andin much higher resolution than SMS because it took advantage of the iPhone’s data connection
One of the changes that came with iOS 6 in2012 was the ability to send iMessages from devices linked to your phone number
That meant you could send and receive textsfrom your iPad, iPod touch, or Mac
Along with some aesthetic changes there wasn’tmuch more that changed until 2015 with the release of iOS 9
In this update, Apple made the wise choiceto rearrange the Notifications Center to chronological order instead of having notifications groupedby app
This made navigating notifications – especiallymessages – way easier for users, especially those who had messages coming in from multipleapps
Apple also introduced a bunch of other ease-of-useupdates like quick replies (which let users respond to messages without even opening theiMessage app) and improved the search function
Now we get to the current state of things
iMessage is now part of the broader Messagesapps available on iOS and macOS – that includes iMessage Apps, the Messages App, iMessageService, the Messages framework, and the App Store for iMessage, a bunch of which wereadded later on for iOS 10
There are a ton of new features that makeit stand out from other messaging apps
Recent versions include screen effects likebubbles, fireworks, and lasers that you can select to show up on your own and the messagerecipient’s screen
There are also, of course, stickers and emojis,but also massive 3X emojis, access to GIFs, and tapback responses that include a heart,thumbs up, thumbs down, and more
iOS 10 also introduced Digital Touch, whichlets you sketch images directly on the screen, us Haptic Tap, and send your live heartbeatthrough the iPhone and iPad interface – a feature that was originally limited to Applewatches
Basically, you can send just about anythingthrough iMessage, from any Apple device, to any device period
To add even more to the list, users can nowdownload quite a few extensions that add even more features
Secret for iMessage allows users to send messagesthat disappear from the app after a period of time, like Snapchat or Signal disappearingmessages
Circle for iMessage adds an extension to sendmoney in dollars, euros, pounds, or bitcoin to any other use
iMessage Analyzer lets users take a peek intotheir own messaging habits with detailed specifics about word usage, how often you get contacted,and so on
This a pretty big development for the app,which didn’t allow add-on apps until iOS 10
This step not only means that users have moreflexibility with how they send messages, but that the iMessage system is building intoa more self-sustaining platform with functionality far beyond just instant messaging
Since iMessage has a ton of features and isdesigned to work with Apple products, you’d think it would be the go-to choice for Appleusers when it comes to sending messages
Unfortunately for Apple, it’s not
Depending on the country, most users stickto alternative apps for their messaging
WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are in thelead there, with LINE, Telegram, WeChat and Viber as some of the other popular runnerups
Despite all of its features, a lot of iPhoneusers install an alternative messaging app almost as soon as they pull it out of thebox, which might be why Apple has been working so hard to increase functionality and accessto additional apps
The exception to this rule seems to be withU
S
teens, who average about 25 iMessages a day according to an analysis by the CEOof the Fam messaging app, Giuseppe Stuto
A lot of adults, though, are looking for saferand more independent messaging alternatives – especially in the wake of the CambridgeAnalytica scandal
In particular, a lot of people are lookingto messaging apps with heavy encryption and some extra security features included likeSignal – and iMessage has a bit of history with data vulnerabilities
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the EFF,gives apps security ratings based on features like encryption, forward secrecy, historyof security audits, documentation of existing security measures, identity verification,and ability for independent review
iMessage got included in these ratings inthe 2014 Secure Messaging Scorecard and got a 5 out of 7 score
It ranked high in most areas, but Apple’scode secrecy prevented a lot of independent auditing and it was impossible for users toverify contacts’ identities
Some cryptographers argued that there weresome hidden, but big vulnerabilities in iMessage – especially for man-in-the-middle attacks– and that some of the features Apple claimed, like forward secrecy, weren’t as strongas they were claimed to be
Other reviewers had similar complaints, anda big independent audit showed that the end-to-end encryption iMessage used wasn’t actuallyvery strong at all
So, in March of 2016 this report came outfrom a group of researchers at Johns Hopkins University led by Matthew D
Green
It showed that the bulletproof commercialencryption offered by Apple for instant messages, pictures, and videos wasn’t so bulletproofafter all
The report was in a big part in response tothe San Bernardino terrorist attack earlier that year when two shooters killed 14 people– and the justice department attempted to force Apple to give up encrypted data on theshooters’ phones and loosen up encryption in the future
As it turns out, there were already plentyof vulnerabilities that the FBI – and hackers – could exploit to get to sensitive datapast Apple’s encryption
Basically, anyone who could access ciphertextscould potentially decrypt photos and videos – whether that be a government officialor a hacker
Apple didn’t loosen their encryption iniMessage in response to the San Bernardino incident, though, and they actually patchedup this vulnerability before the Johns Hopkins report was released to the public
The 2016 vulnerability report wasn’t theonly controversy surrounding iMessage
In 2014, an customer filed a lawsuit againstApple after turning in her iPhone for an Android model
She, along with thousands of other ex-iPhoneusers discovered that they weren’t receiving messages from Apple users anymore once theymade the switch
Because iMessage handles SMS differently thanother texting apps, messages sent to ex-iPhone users from current Apple users were disappearingand causing all sorts of issues – from loss of business to marriage issues
Some users felt forced to go back to iPhonefrom Android, others had to change their phone numbers to solve the issue
Apple employees admitted to the problem openly,and many users felt that it was deliberate on the part of Apple to keep more money intheir pockets
The original case failed to make class-actionstatus and was heard by a federal court in San Jose, California where the claimant arguedthat she was being “penalized” by Apple for switching to a different product
Ultimately, though, the case was dismissed
Apple offered a solution to the problem byposting a help article on their website that describes the fix – all you have to do islog into your Apple account and remove your phone number from your profile
Independent developers have offered theirown solutions to the cross-platform problem, too
Eric Chee, an open-source developer, launched“PieMessage,” a project that allows iMessage to connect with Android devices
With this code, Android phones can send andreceive messages through iMessage, which not only solves the problem of lost messages forex-iPhone users but offers a whole new set of messaging options for non-Apple users ingeneral
The other major controversy facing the iMessageapp is massive patent lawsuit that’s still ongoing
This lawsuit started in 2010 when VirnetX,a company mostly involved in the collection of patents, accused Apple of infringing onits intellectual property
VirnetX is a patent-assertion entity, or whatsome people refer to as a “patent troll” – its primary purpose seems to be to accumulatepatents and then sue tech companies that use similar technology
In this case, VirnetX sued Apple over patentinfringements for FaceTime, VPN on Demand, and, of course, iMessage
The case has gone through several differentdecisions and an incredible number of appeals
Early on, a jury awarded VirnetX $302 millionin damages from Apple, which then increased to $439
7 million by a judge’s decision
The case was appealed by Apple, but with over400 million devices with the alleged offending tech sold since then, few courts have beensympathetic
In April, a Texas federal jury increased thedamages even more – to over $500 million dollars
Apple’s lawyers haven’t commented yetif they plan to make another appeal, but since they brought in $20 billion in the first quarterof 2018, they may just pay the damages to end the nearly decade-long dispute
I wanted to wrap up with a few stats aboutiMessage and instant messaging as a whole
The consulting firm Chetan Sharma has shownthat SMS texting has declined pretty significantly in the last several years – and it attributessome of this international decline to more inclusive, well-rounded apps like iMessage
That’s not really surprising consideringhow many messages are sent through this platform every day
As of 2012, just one year after its release,300 billion messages had been sent in iMessage, averaging about 28,000 messages per second
In 2016, that number had grown to 200,000messages per second – and a staggering 63 quadrillion iMessages sent per year
Today, there are no official usage reportsreleased – but it’s safe to assume that that number is higher than ever before
Sothat is the history of iMessage, and if you want to vote for the next video topic, don’tforget to subscribe
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you nexttime
This topic won last week’s voting poll andif you didn’t get to vote, make sure you’re subscribed, that way the voting polls willshow up right in your activity feed and you can let me know which video you’d like tosee next
So, iMessage is essentially a replacementfor SMS that works between Apple devices
Like all great instant messaging platforms,it allows users to send and receive messages, stickers, emojis, images, and all sorts ofattachments using WiFi, ethernet, or mobile data
In its current form, iMessage works any oniPhone, iPad, and iPod touch running iOS 5 and up or any Mac with OS X Mountain Lionand up
You can register your account to your phonenumber like SMS or to your email address – or to a bunch of email addresses, if that’syour thing
Before I get into the history and some of the controversies that have come up,I want to go a little deeper into what iMessage actually does
So, the iMessage protocol is a binary protocolbased off the Apple Push Notification Service
Messages are encrypted end-to-end and havedelivery receipts that you can access through read receipts
On iPhones, messages can be sent via SMS/MMS,which show up in green text bubbles, or data, which show up as blue
Sent messages show up on the right, replieson the left – pretty intuitive for anyone who’s ever used iMessage or any other messagingapp
One of the nice features over a strict SMSservice is that you can see when another user is typing a message to you
Originally, there were some issues with non-iPhoneusers not receiving messages sent through iMessage, I’ll get into that a little later,but that’s been fixed now and messages sent via data to a non iOS user now get automaticallyconverted to SMS
Alright, so now I’m going to get into theactual history of iMessage
It was first announced at the Apple WorldwideDeveloper’s Conference in 2011
Scott Forstall revealed it during his keynoteon June 6th and it was released in the iOS 5 update just a few months later in October
It was the same year that iCloud, OS X Lion,AirDrop, Launchpad, and Mission Control were announced, so, a lot of important things happenedthat year
This first version was already pretty impressivealready
It was designed to take the place of SMS withoutchanging apps so that users would have a seamless transition to the iMessage protocol, and itincluded the ability to send everything from basic text messages to contact information,real-time locations, and read receipts
It also transferred pictures way faster andin much higher resolution than SMS because it took advantage of the iPhone’s data connection
One of the changes that came with iOS 6 in2012 was the ability to send iMessages from devices linked to your phone number
That meant you could send and receive textsfrom your iPad, iPod touch, or Mac
Along with some aesthetic changes there wasn’tmuch more that changed until 2015 with the release of iOS 9
In this update, Apple made the wise choiceto rearrange the Notifications Center to chronological order instead of having notifications groupedby app
This made navigating notifications – especiallymessages – way easier for users, especially those who had messages coming in from multipleapps
Apple also introduced a bunch of other ease-of-useupdates like quick replies (which let users respond to messages without even opening theiMessage app) and improved the search function
Now we get to the current state of things
iMessage is now part of the broader Messagesapps available on iOS and macOS – that includes iMessage Apps, the Messages App, iMessageService, the Messages framework, and the App Store for iMessage, a bunch of which wereadded later on for iOS 10
There are a ton of new features that makeit stand out from other messaging apps
Recent versions include screen effects likebubbles, fireworks, and lasers that you can select to show up on your own and the messagerecipient’s screen
There are also, of course, stickers and emojis,but also massive 3X emojis, access to GIFs, and tapback responses that include a heart,thumbs up, thumbs down, and more
iOS 10 also introduced Digital Touch, whichlets you sketch images directly on the screen, us Haptic Tap, and send your live heartbeatthrough the iPhone and iPad interface – a feature that was originally limited to Applewatches
Basically, you can send just about anythingthrough iMessage, from any Apple device, to any device period
To add even more to the list, users can nowdownload quite a few extensions that add even more features
Secret for iMessage allows users to send messagesthat disappear from the app after a period of time, like Snapchat or Signal disappearingmessages
Circle for iMessage adds an extension to sendmoney in dollars, euros, pounds, or bitcoin to any other use
iMessage Analyzer lets users take a peek intotheir own messaging habits with detailed specifics about word usage, how often you get contacted,and so on
This a pretty big development for the app,which didn’t allow add-on apps until iOS 10
This step not only means that users have moreflexibility with how they send messages, but that the iMessage system is building intoa more self-sustaining platform with functionality far beyond just instant messaging
Since iMessage has a ton of features and isdesigned to work with Apple products, you’d think it would be the go-to choice for Appleusers when it comes to sending messages
Unfortunately for Apple, it’s not
Depending on the country, most users stickto alternative apps for their messaging
WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are in thelead there, with LINE, Telegram, WeChat and Viber as some of the other popular runnerups
Despite all of its features, a lot of iPhoneusers install an alternative messaging app almost as soon as they pull it out of thebox, which might be why Apple has been working so hard to increase functionality and accessto additional apps
The exception to this rule seems to be withU
S
teens, who average about 25 iMessages a day according to an analysis by the CEOof the Fam messaging app, Giuseppe Stuto
A lot of adults, though, are looking for saferand more independent messaging alternatives – especially in the wake of the CambridgeAnalytica scandal
In particular, a lot of people are lookingto messaging apps with heavy encryption and some extra security features included likeSignal – and iMessage has a bit of history with data vulnerabilities
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the EFF,gives apps security ratings based on features like encryption, forward secrecy, historyof security audits, documentation of existing security measures, identity verification,and ability for independent review
iMessage got included in these ratings inthe 2014 Secure Messaging Scorecard and got a 5 out of 7 score
It ranked high in most areas, but Apple’scode secrecy prevented a lot of independent auditing and it was impossible for users toverify contacts’ identities
Some cryptographers argued that there weresome hidden, but big vulnerabilities in iMessage – especially for man-in-the-middle attacks– and that some of the features Apple claimed, like forward secrecy, weren’t as strongas they were claimed to be
Other reviewers had similar complaints, anda big independent audit showed that the end-to-end encryption iMessage used wasn’t actuallyvery strong at all
So, in March of 2016 this report came outfrom a group of researchers at Johns Hopkins University led by Matthew D
Green
It showed that the bulletproof commercialencryption offered by Apple for instant messages, pictures, and videos wasn’t so bulletproofafter all
The report was in a big part in response tothe San Bernardino terrorist attack earlier that year when two shooters killed 14 people– and the justice department attempted to force Apple to give up encrypted data on theshooters’ phones and loosen up encryption in the future
As it turns out, there were already plentyof vulnerabilities that the FBI – and hackers – could exploit to get to sensitive datapast Apple’s encryption
Basically, anyone who could access ciphertextscould potentially decrypt photos and videos – whether that be a government officialor a hacker
Apple didn’t loosen their encryption iniMessage in response to the San Bernardino incident, though, and they actually patchedup this vulnerability before the Johns Hopkins report was released to the public
The 2016 vulnerability report wasn’t theonly controversy surrounding iMessage
In 2014, an customer filed a lawsuit againstApple after turning in her iPhone for an Android model
She, along with thousands of other ex-iPhoneusers discovered that they weren’t receiving messages from Apple users anymore once theymade the switch
Because iMessage handles SMS differently thanother texting apps, messages sent to ex-iPhone users from current Apple users were disappearingand causing all sorts of issues – from loss of business to marriage issues
Some users felt forced to go back to iPhonefrom Android, others had to change their phone numbers to solve the issue
Apple employees admitted to the problem openly,and many users felt that it was deliberate on the part of Apple to keep more money intheir pockets
The original case failed to make class-actionstatus and was heard by a federal court in San Jose, California where the claimant arguedthat she was being “penalized” by Apple for switching to a different product
Ultimately, though, the case was dismissed
Apple offered a solution to the problem byposting a help article on their website that describes the fix – all you have to do islog into your Apple account and remove your phone number from your profile
Independent developers have offered theirown solutions to the cross-platform problem, too
Eric Chee, an open-source developer, launched“PieMessage,” a project that allows iMessage to connect with Android devices
With this code, Android phones can send andreceive messages through iMessage, which not only solves the problem of lost messages forex-iPhone users but offers a whole new set of messaging options for non-Apple users ingeneral
The other major controversy facing the iMessageapp is massive patent lawsuit that’s still ongoing
This lawsuit started in 2010 when VirnetX,a company mostly involved in the collection of patents, accused Apple of infringing onits intellectual property
VirnetX is a patent-assertion entity, or whatsome people refer to as a “patent troll” – its primary purpose seems to be to accumulatepatents and then sue tech companies that use similar technology
In this case, VirnetX sued Apple over patentinfringements for FaceTime, VPN on Demand, and, of course, iMessage
The case has gone through several differentdecisions and an incredible number of appeals
Early on, a jury awarded VirnetX $302 millionin damages from Apple, which then increased to $439
7 million by a judge’s decision
The case was appealed by Apple, but with over400 million devices with the alleged offending tech sold since then, few courts have beensympathetic
In April, a Texas federal jury increased thedamages even more – to over $500 million dollars
Apple’s lawyers haven’t commented yetif they plan to make another appeal, but since they brought in $20 billion in the first quarterof 2018, they may just pay the damages to end the nearly decade-long dispute
I wanted to wrap up with a few stats aboutiMessage and instant messaging as a whole
The consulting firm Chetan Sharma has shownthat SMS texting has declined pretty significantly in the last several years – and it attributessome of this international decline to more inclusive, well-rounded apps like iMessage
That’s not really surprising consideringhow many messages are sent through this platform every day
As of 2012, just one year after its release,300 billion messages had been sent in iMessage, averaging about 28,000 messages per second
In 2016, that number had grown to 200,000messages per second – and a staggering 63 quadrillion iMessages sent per year
Today, there are no official usage reportsreleased – but it’s safe to assume that that number is higher than ever before
Sothat is the history of iMessage, and if you want to vote for the next video topic, don’tforget to subscribe
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you nexttime
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