Nothing is Bringing iMessage to Android

London-based tech brand Nothing has announced a new messaging app, Nothing Chats, that will help its users to say goodbye to Google’s green bubbles and bring the iPhone’s blue ones to their Android-based Phone (2).

Launching November 17 on the Google Play store, Nothing Chats marks the latest release from the unconventional tech company that’s been full of surprises lately, launching a $69 smartwatch, clothing line, and a CASETiFY collaboration that, strangely, makes its own phone look like an iPhone. The brand’s back at it again giving us more of what we never knew we needed, this time with an end-to-end encrypted messaging service that they hope will bring Android and iOS users closer.

According to the brand, Nothing Chats will aim “to break down communications barriers related to messaging platform incompatibility and the social stigma that becomes associated with it as a byproduct.” In other words, Nothing is saying that iPhone users think Google’s green bubbles aren’t cool, and hopes its new app will put a stop to any bubble-related bullying. As ridiculous as it sounds, there is some evidence to support this and teens and college students questioned for a Wall Street Journal article said they “dread the ostracism that comes with a green text”, adding that “the social pressure is palpable [and you can be] ostracized or singled out after switching away from iPhones.”

To bring its new app to market, Nothing partnered with Sunbird, an American technology company that specializes in cross-platform Android messaging. Nothing Chats is built on Sunbird’s tried and tested architecture, meaning users can feel safe in the knowledge their messages are secure and encrypted from end-to-end.

So, if you’re an Android user, happen to own a Nothing Phone (2), have lots of iPhone using friends (who hate green), and live in the US, Canada, UK and select countries in the EU, you’re in luck. Download the Nothing Chats app from the Google Play store on November 17.  

In other tech news, Instagram just updated its Close Friends feature.