Apple will announce that iMessage encrypted text messaging is coming to Android users at WWDC next Monday at WWDC 2016, according to a source familiar with the company’s thinking.
This will make it possible for Android and iOS users to communicate securely as iMessage features end-to-end encryption – even Apple cannot access users’ messages. Currently, iMessage is accessible through the Messages app on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running iOS 5 or later or on a Mac running OS X Mountain Lion or later. In February, Eddie Cue announced that the number of iMessages sent surpassed 200,000 per second.
Apple is increasingly focused on services which means opening up certain avenues beyond its own iOS and OS X platforms, the source says, specifically noting reports of Apple adding person-to-person Apple Pay payments via Messages. The company released Apple Music for Android last November.
The source notes that plans are constantly in flux leading up to Apple keynotes and the timing of the announcement could change, but that the iMessage instant messenger service would “definitely” be coming to Android this year. As this is a single-sourced item, it’s been filed under “rumor.”
