An app that was shut down after a catastrophic privacy failure is asking users to trust it again. Sunbird, the tool that lets Android users send blue-bubble iMessages, has returned to the Google Play Store three years after it was pulled. In 2023, researchers found that vulnerabilities in its encryption system allowed outsiders to access private messages. Publication 9to5Google got into over 630,000 files using those flaws. That’s not a minor bug. That’s a fundamental breach of the one thing a messaging app must get right.
So why is Sunbird back? Largely to fix a problem that Apple already mostly fixed. When Apple adopted the RCS protocol in 2024, Android-to-iPhone texting got typing indicators, read receipts, and high-res media. The green bubble stigma, though, remains. Sunbird’s pitch is simple: connect your Android device to a remote server that registers it with an Apple ID, and your bubbles turn blue. The company also promises future WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger integration, which is more genuinely useful than chasing chat bubble colors.
The app also has AI features coming, including a message summarizer and an agentic assistant that can draft replies. The company says user messages will “stay private” with these tools. Given the 2023 incident, that claim needs more than a press release to back it up.
The bigger picture here is worth considering. Sunbird operates by routing your messages through its own servers, which is exactly the architecture that caused the 2023 breach. Nothing in this announcement explains what structurally changed. Sunbird costs $3 per month after a 14-day trial. Whether blue bubbles are worth that, plus the risk, is a question only you can answer.