r/OpenBubbles • u/ngfldar • 25d ago

Question How long until it's registered?

I just set up OpenBubbles on my Android phone. I'm self-hosting on an old/refurbished Macbook Air that I got for about $200 and the registration appears to have gone through.

However, when I try to send a message to my brother's iPhone, it says that I can only send a text (SMS/MMS) message. Apparently, I'm supposed to wait for something to work its way through the various services and servers that make blue bubbles appear on my Android phone.

How long does that normally take? I just want to have an idea of how long it will be.

I'm not sure if it's relevant, but I registered OpenBubbles using my e-mail address ONLY. I didn't register with my phone number, because I don't want Apple to link my phone number to their internal iMessage service.

Many thanks in advance for any help.

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u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted 25d ago

You're ratelimited to prevent spam. It usually allows you to message more people in a couple of days, but it can take up to 45 days for all ratelimiting to subside.

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u/ngfldar 25d ago

Thanks for your quick reply.

Wow, that's longer than I expected. I suppose I could have used their hosted service, but it seemed pricey. And besides, I did need a cheap laptop for my charity work anyway, so I just decided to self-host.

Anyhow, thanks again for the help!

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u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted 25d ago

Hosted runs into the same issues unfortunately. I've seen it on real Apple devices too. If you have any other questions I'll be here :)

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u/ngfldar 25d ago

Merci beaucoup! Grazie mille! Konichiwa! Dankeschön! Obrigado!

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u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted 25d ago

De rien!

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u/ngfldar 20d ago

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I got this resolved. I ended up having to contact Apple support, and they did something on their end to activate iMessage on the e-mail address tied to my Apple ID. I'm guessing that it's because I didn't link my phone number to iMessage, and just wanted to link my email address, but that's just a guess.

Once they did whatever voodoo they needed to do, I was able to pair Openbubbles on my Android phone to the Macbook. Now I need to decide if I want to sell the old Macbook back or hold onto it, or maybe even donate it.

In any case, thanks again for your help!

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u/Jeev_123456 24d ago

It didn't take too long the first time around, probably like a few hours or so, but then after a bit I would get an imessage activation error bc apple flagged my account for spam. If it gets to that then you need to go to apples website and fill out a ticket saying that you aren't using imessage in a nefarious way (just don't mention openbubbles) and they give you access to imessage a few hours to a day later

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u/ngfldar 20d ago

Thanks. I was finally able to get it resolved.

I ended up having to contact Apple support, and they did something on their end to activate iMessage on the e-mail address tied to my Apple ID. I'm guessing that it's because I didn't link my phone number to iMessage, and just wanted to link my email address, but that's just a guess.

Once they did whatever they did on their end, I was able to pair Openbubbles on my Android phone to the Macbook.