Sunbird, an iMessage app for Android, has been reportedly shut down for the time being for having major privacy concerns.
The issue with the app was first reported when Nothing launched the beta version of its
Nothing Chats app in collaboration with Sunbird on November 17. The app was soon taken off the Play Store for having several bugs.
In a report, 9To5Google noted that the app was not end-to-end encrypted as promised and that image files from other users are “pretty easy to access” in plain text.
“We found over 630,000 files accessible through this vulnerability, where Sunbird had claimed that data was not stored on its own servers — technically true, as the data was stored via Firebase,” 9To5Google said.
In a subreddit,r/Sunbird, users shared notifications that said that Sunbird usage was on hold.
“We are investigating the security issues raised in the last 24 hours. In an abundance of caution and to protect your confidential data, we are shutting down Sunbird media temporarily,” the notification read as per a Reddit user.
Sunbird first launched its unified messaging app, mostly known for allowing Android users to use iMessage, in 2022. It is also not directly accessible to general users and you’d have to sign up on their waitlist to be able to use the app, which currently has over 160,000 members on the list.
It recently came into the spotlight after Nothing partnered with the company for its Nothing Chats app for similar functionality in an attempt to make
iMessage accessible to Android users, starting with a beta version for the Nothing Phone (2) users.
However, the privacy concerns were brought to the company’s notice and the app the taken down from the app store just a day after the launch.
“We've removed the Nothing Chats beta from the Play Store and will be delaying the launch until further notice to work with Sunbird to fix several bugs,” Nothing said.
(Edited by : Vijay Anand)
