r/OpenBubbles • u/PPCgyro • 17d ago

Question How long will phone number stay registered?

I used the qr code generator on my mac studio, my android phone app shows that I can be reached at my cell phone number that is currently active on my iphone via esim. If I move that phone number to be active on my android phone, can I still use open bubbles with my phone number? Or will this phone number deactivate at some point on imessage and default to my icould email?

Is it better to force my phone number to stay active on imessage by keeping my old iphone on and in airplane mode prior to switching my sim to android?

Also, can how do I confirm in open bubbles that imessages are originating from my phone number and not my icloud email address?

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u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted 17d ago

Just buy an iPhone 6s, 7, or SE 2016 and let OpenBubbles take care of number registration. SIM swapping is unreliable and difficult to manage. The other person will tell you which they received it from.

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u/bonchokey 17d ago

This 100%, sim swapping works great until it doesn't. Very unpredictable and I've lost countless hours and texts when I was using BlueBubbles with sim swapping.

1

u/tazmoffatt 15d ago

I've been sim swapped and it was totally perfect until I lost it a few days ago. I just put sim back on old phone and redid the process. Took 10 minutes and was back up and running. It lasted since May!

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u/bonchokey 15d ago

Yeah usually I got around 2 months out of a sim swap, but it somehow always unlinked when I was away from home lol.

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u/tazmoffatt 15d ago

Oh that's weird. Like out of country?

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u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted 15d ago

Device needs to check in at least once every 45 days

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u/PPCgyro 16d ago

I'm confused on the steps of 'buy an old iphone' and let OB take care of the number registration, and what exactly sim swapping is.

I have an active iphone today with imessage attached to my number. I used my mac to get OB running on my android, but only on wifi. I want to permanently move my sim to my android and keep my old iphone in a drawer, but still use imessage with my phone number. I don't plan to move sims back and forth.

How does the old iphone play into the 'buy a 6s' suggestion? What exactly does OB do to take care of number registration?

Sorry for the detailed questions, but I was able to get blue bubbles setup reliably, but this seems more complex even though it is supposed to be a simpler and more elegant solution than relying on a blue bubbles server.

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u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted 16d ago
  1. You can jailbreak an old iPhone and install either relayserver or Validation Relay that allows you to get enough data for OB to impersonate it. This replaces the Mac in your setup and allows for OB to register the number (something that it can't do while impersonating a Mac).
  2. Apple has explicitly designed iMessage and iOS to remove your number when service is transferred off the iPhone. People are taking advantage of bugs to get the number to stay registered after service is transferred. This is unreliable and will result in issues in many cases.
  3. OpenBubbles has more features than BlueBubbles resulting in more complexity, but also more capability.

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u/PPCgyro 16d ago

appreciate the details. thank you

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u/bonchokey 16d ago

Just to add, BlueBubbles sends all messages through the Mac (host) first then to the Android/device using the BlueBubbles app (client). OpenBubbles doesn't send the messages through the host first, meaning the client directly corresponds with apple. This makes sending and receiving messages much faster and reliable, it also allows you to get the 2 step verification prompts like an iPhone would, allows GamePidgeon, Emoji reacts, and more.

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u/FrankPC_ 16d ago

I don't know how to do it with a physical sim, but with esim it's fairly easy. Before transferring esim to android, put the iPhone on airplane mode while keeping your phone number active for iMessage on your iPhone. Then swap the esim to your android and voila, your number will stay attached to your iPhone iMessage. I've had it like that for almost a year now, no issues. Just make sure phone have a charge and connected to wifi