# OpenBubbles

5 Hacker News commenters recommended OpenBubbles and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free app that brings iMessage to Android and Windows by connecting directly to Apple's servers, without needing a Mac or your iPhone running alongside.

## Why people recommend it

- Connects directly to Apple's servers (2 comments): "What's nice about that is that it just hooks directly into Apple's servers, so doesn't require a connection to your phone or anything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49493328)) "It's even better as it does not require the Mac to act like a server." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46430141))
- Runs iMessage on Windows and Android (2 comments): "I was able to have it up and running on my daily driver. Win 11 is now much more enjoyable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49500579)) "It gets iMessage on Android devices and works fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47937762))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [WhatsApp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/whatsapp.md): 300 recommend
- [iMessage](https://hackerapproved.com/p/imessage.md): 100 recommend
- [Conversations XMPP client](https://hackerapproved.com/p/conversations.md): 31 recommend
- [Tether (iMessage and SMS on Linux)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tether.md): 22 recommend
- [Google Messages](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-messages.md): 12 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "OpenBubbles", https://hackerapproved.com/p/openbubbles/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).