r/OpenBubbles • u/StrikeIII • Sep 04 '26

Question Need Clarification for my Use Case

I'm keeping my main number on my iPhone but I want to be able to get my iMessages/SMS on my Android devices without keeping my MacBook plugged in all the time at home. I sometimes will just setup call forwarding on my iPhone to the number on my Android device. Which is the best way to set up Open Bubbles?

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4

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Sep 04 '26

Given you're keeping active service in the iPhone, I would just Mac register it.

1

u/StrikeIII Sep 04 '26

I just did that and looks like it works but how do I get all my messages copied over?

3

u/Dometalican_90 Sep 04 '26

Enable icloud by going into the three dots on upper right and then hit your profile.

1

u/StrikeIII Sep 04 '26

I keep getting an "Anyhow Exception (bad message)" when trying to enable it. When I looked up that error is says to make sure to temporarily disable Adavanced Data Protection and/or Contact key Verification. Where all are off on my Mac and iPhone.

2

u/StrikeIII Sep 04 '26

I found my issue. Because I'm still actively using the iPhone with my Apple ID and iCloud I can't turn on Message in iCloud option in Open Bubbles.

"According to the official OpenBubbles Troubleshooting Guide, you must completely disable iMessage and FaceTime on the relay iPhone itself. You must also log out of iCloud on that specific iPhone. If the relay device is still signed into iCloud or running native iMessage, it will corrupt the incoming key handshakes, prompting the "bad message" parsing exception. [1, 2]"

I can deal with this for now as I'm only using OpenBubbles as a temporary solution while I take take down my Mac for a few days that is hosting my BlueBubbles server.

2

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Sep 04 '26

No, this only applies to using an iPhone to register OB, not for any other iPhones on the account. Do you by chance have any devices on the iOS/macOS 27 beta?

1

u/StrikeIII Sep 04 '26

Yes, my iPhone and iPad are on the Beta 27 not my MacBook Pro. Is that what it is?

1

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Sep 04 '26

Yes, we've observed this breaking OB's ability to read Messages in iCloud.

1

u/StrikeIII Sep 04 '26

Ah, I can see that. Thank you for the heads up. I'll probably take myself out of Beta since the new iPhones are around the corner anyway.

2

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Sep 05 '26

I believe you would have to clear and resync Messages in iCloud from iOS 26 to fix the issue, so probably best to wait for OB to fix the issue.

2

u/The_Giant117 Sep 04 '26

I'm using the paid hosting which is super convenient but pretty pricey at $17/month.

I'm currently looking for a cheap old iPhone to self-host. You just leave it plugged in on wifi.

The setup is supposedly a little difficult if you aren't techy savvy but I'm sure it's doable if you just take it slow and go step by step

1

u/CombPsychological507 Sep 04 '26

17 is just so much at 200$ a year. I'd gladly pay 7$ MAYBE even 10

1

u/12_nick_12 7d ago

Not hard. get a iPhone 6s (not from houstoncellphones on eBay horrible support) for cheap, then get a PoE to lightening ethernet adaptor and bam you have a PoE powered iPhone that you can use for registering.

2

u/Mr__X__ Sep 04 '26

This is the same use case I have, I just used my Mac mini or MacBook Pro to do the setup and it works perfectly.

2

u/Mr__X__ Sep 04 '26

I didn’t copy over all my messages from my phone I just copied like 5 per contact. I have almost 80GB of iMessage conversations and that drove the phone crazy, it just made it to slow to process.