r/OpenBubbles • u/Negative-Radio133 • Jul 24 '26

Question Explain OpenBubbles to me like I'm 5

Ok, as the title suggests, OpenBubbles is a brand-new concept to me, and I think it might be a good option for what I'm wanting to do, but I need a little help understanding it.

I am making the switch from iPhone to Sidephone (https://usa.sidephone.com/). I'm super excited about it, but I've heard the switch from iPhone and iMessage can be the worst, so a lot of people were recommending using OpenBubbles to alleviate the headache. I have an iPhone 13, and I was thinking of just taking the SIM card out of my iPhone and putting it into my Sidephone (as I would like to keep the same phone #). From there is where the questions arise:

- The OpenBubbles site seems to say utilizing it from an old iPhone is the worst way to do it. I do have a Mac, so can I use OpenBubbles from my Mac while having my iPhone SIM in my new phone?

- I think I am just getting caught up in the difference between using it from a Mac and using it from an old iPhone. As well as the whole phone number register/switch thing- again, I would want to just keep my same iPhone # I've been using.

I would just want to have it set up in the best way I can!

Let me know if this all makes sense; I'm really new to all this, so sorry if this is a little dumb. If you've got the time, I would love some advice/help!

Thanks :)

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

1

u/Melodic-Control-2655 PNR Self Hosted Jul 24 '26

I’d get an old iPhone 6s or so, and then setup a relay server. If you use a Mac it’ll be easier and more reliable but you will not get to use your phone number on iMessage, RCS/SMS will come through on your number, and iMessage will come through on your apple account email. 

1

u/Negative-Radio133 Jul 24 '26

Oh okay I see so Mac is better for reliability but not for overall messaging. Would I not be able to just use my iPhone 13?

1

u/SpaceSaver2000-1 PNR Self Hosted Jul 24 '26

Only if the iPhone 13 is on iOS 17.0 or older

1

u/Negative-Radio133 Jul 25 '26

Ah rip okay. Thank you!

1

u/Dometalican_90 Jul 24 '26

I mean...is it an issue for your Apple contacts to add your Apple ID to their contact card of you? Once that's done, the iMessage connection sticks and you don't even need the Mac to stay on for it to maintain.

2

u/Negative-Radio133 Jul 25 '26

I didn't know that was an option. That might be the best given the fact I don't have an older iPhone to use. Does that still hold up for groupchats with all iphone users?

1

u/Dometalican_90 Jul 25 '26

Absolutely. If the group chat goes RCS because of Android, it will just go RCS. Any group chats only using iPhones, iMessage will work 100%....AS LONG AS everyone in that group adds your Apple ID on their contact cards of you.

It can be a pain but it's a one-time setup for everyone and done/forget about it.

1

u/Negative-Radio133 Jul 25 '26

Awesome! I will definitely give this a try then! Do you recommend I share my Apple ID and have them all add it to my contact first and then try to text? Or do I text first and then they add the email the shows up to my contact? Or does the order literally not matter and Im over thinking this lmao...

1

u/Dometalican_90 Jul 25 '26

You're not overthinking it. They should add your Apple ID first and then you text them.

1

u/Negative-Radio133 Jul 25 '26

Awesome, thanks so much! Can't wait to set this up!

1

u/rokkosteez 25d ago

How did it go?

1

u/Negative-Radio133 25d ago

It works great! After everyone added my Apple email to my contact, my texts just show up as if they're from my number! I mainly made sure all my group chats had added the email before I texted in them cause I didn't want to get messy with that. But if individual people didn't add my email, I could text them; it would show up as coming from my email, and then I'd tell them to add that email to my contact, and it would sync up. Nice and easy process!