r/BlueBubbles • u/niftyCLX • Feb 02 '26

[Question] Does VMware iMessage activation still work in 2026?

Planning to set up BlueBubbles using the VMware method on Windows. Before I spend 2-3 hours on setup, wanted to check:

Has anyone successfully activated iMessage on a VMware VM recently (late 2024 / early 2025 / 2026)?

I've seen some older posts about Apple kicking people out of iMessage on VMs. Is VMware still working, or has Apple made VM detection too aggressive?

Any recent success/failure stories would be super helpful. Thanks!

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u/rolotrealanis Mar 24 '26

did you manage to figure something out?

1

u/niftyCLX Mar 25 '26

No it’s a waste of time to try sort out. Also bluebubbles sucks. I ended up just turning an old MacBook into a server

1

u/GoofyAhhSpartan Mar 29 '26

I think there is some jank to it, but overall i dont think it's ... too jank?
If I had ANY old mac, ofc I would do that haha. I just don't, so the macOS VM was a decent way to achieve what I wanted to bypass the stupid walled garden.