Recently, we previously covered a post regarding the Sunbird app through which we can send messages on iMessage via Blue Bubble. According to the MKBHD video, you will be signing in using your Apple ID for Nothing Chats, and it will be logged in to a Mac Mini that you do not own.
So, there are some privacy concerns, and now according to X (formally Twitter) user @evowizz has researched Sunbird and Nothing Chats (regarding privacy) and posted a thread on X stating that Sunbird has access to all the messages that you can send or receive. This also applies to the Nothing Chats. Dylan Roussel has also mentioned that all the documents i.e. vCards, audios, images, videos, and PDFs you are sending or receiving using Sunbird and Nothing Chats, are also public.
As mentioned in the privacy policy of Sunbird, “At Sunbird, we value user privacy and security above all else. We offer a messaging service that is completely private, with no message data collected on users. Messages are transmitted using end-to-end encryption”. Roussel has also mentioned that Nothing Chats and the Sunbird app are not end-to-end encrypted, as Nothing Chats is built on Sunbird.
Sunbird can access all the messages that you are sending or receiving. If we talk about how they are accessing this, they are doing this by abusing Sentry ( a crash reporting platform). This platform is used to monitor errors. But as mentioned in the Tweet by Roussel, the Sunbird says that these are errors not messages. Twitter user @KishanBagaria got a reply from Sunbird as the user said that they are not even using HTTPS. So, regarding this Sunbird replied that using HTTP is safe as it’s a part of the initial request. On this, Roussel replied that it’s not fine as the user’s email addresses still leak.
Another user with the username @uwukko has also mentioned in a tweet that Nothing Chats which is skinned on the Sunbird app is a privacy nightmare. According to Wukko, the app is storing and sharing all data unencrypted on Firebase. Along with this, it also sends all messages and attachments to the sentry (in plain text).
Texts.blog first discovered that Nothing Chats which is made in collaboration with Sunbird had a privacy issue on November 17. After this, they notified Nothing company about this instantly. Due to this, the user’s data is at risk. All the messages, documents, images, vCards, and videos are not end-to-end encrypted and saved to the database along with your Apple ID.
As we know, the Nothing Chats (Beta) app was launched in some countries for the Nothing Phone (2). But after this, Nothing has removed it from Google’s Play Store. It will launch after fixing all the bugs.
Note: We are not recommending Sunbird or Nothing Chats (based on Sunbird) due to privacy issues. So, if you are using it, then disconnect your Apple ID from the app and uninstall it.
If we get any updates regarding the Nothing Chats app, it will be back in the Google Play Store. Then we will update it in this article.
Till then, do let us know in the comment box that you are using the Sunbird app. If yes, then are you going to install this after this?
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