iMessage

IMessage is a short message service from Apple that is available in the news app on iOS and OS X.

History

IMessage was introduced on June 6, 2011 at the WWDC conference by Scott Forstall. On October 12, 2011, with the release of iOS 5.0, iMessage was available for each user of this iOS version. Since the release of OS X 10.8 iMessage is also available on the Macintosh.

Functionality

IMessage lets you alternate between two or more devices with iOS or OS X text messages, pictures, videos, links and transfer other files. Sending and receiving messages is done via the Internet ( Wi-Fi or mobile) and is paid on the cost of data transmission. Unlike SMS or MMS are no room charges for individual messages.

Devices with iOS can send up to 10 MB and receive messages on OS X, the limit is 100 MB. As part of the registration for the iMessage service, the Apple ID of the user or the phone number will be used. For the initial activation on the iPhone, an SMS is sent to a central server with a phone number from the UK. For this one-time costs are incurred, which usually appear only abroad on behalf of the user, since allowing free domestically the provider the customer registration.

Users can also iMessage their phone number to be contacted, both under their Apple ID as. With iOS 6 introduces the possibility to synchronize messages regardless of the selected variant between all devices so that, for example, sent messages appear on the phone number on a Macintosh computer. News about iMessage can be sent and received with the respective news app in iOS and OS X. To distinguish between chargeable SMS / MMS and free iMessage is possible, the latter are marked in color (blue). Provided that the use of iMessage is not possible because the respective terminal currently has no access to the Internet, go iPhone devices automatically transmitting a message as a classic SMS / MMS ( green), provided that the iPhone users the transfer switch to SMS / MMS has agreed in the iPhone.

Users can see whether the interlocutor at the moment writing a response. For sent messages will appear if they successfully delivered and whether they have been read. The latter assumes that the receiver only activated this. About sent but undelivered messages, the sender is informed by a red exclamation mark next to the message; a delivery at a later time does not take place automatically.

Technology

Scott Forstall expressed during the performance of iMessage, the service will build on Apple's push notification system. According to the Apple blog AppleInsider iMessage is built on the XMPP PubSub technology ( Publish and Subscribe), just like the push notifications.

With iOS 5, Apple has accommodated using PubSub push, iMessage and FaceTime Notifications into a unified system. Which also brings with it the advantage that only a single connection to the server must be maintained.

Apple indicates that all communication takes place via iMessage end - to-end encrypted. Since Apple has not yet been fully disclosed to the workings of iMessage, the security has not yet been reviewed by independent scientists.

410151
de