If you use an iPhone, iPad, or any other Apple device, you’ve probably used iMessage. iMessage is the popular built-in messaging app. It’s Apple’s version of the text message, but it’s packed with great features that iPhone users have grown very fond of. Most people have iPhones, or at least have smartphones but they may not be compatible with your PC. We looked around online for ways to access your iMessage in Windows, but only found workarounds that compromise your security. If you are already using them, consider stopping, there are security risks associated.
We’re going to discuss these workarounds, but we highly recommend you do NOT attempt them. These are two of the most common procedures people have come up with to try to get iMessage to work on a Windows 10 PC, but both put you at a security risk.
Again, we strongly advise that you do NOT attempt these workarounds to get iMessage on your Windows PC. It is not worth it to risk losing all your data simply because you want to sync messages.
Security Risks Getting Imessage to Work on PC
iPadian – The Risky Third-Party App
The first method we found online is an application called iPadian. The software is available through the app store. It works by emulating an iPad’s iOS environment. Symmetric IT Group does not recommend going out and installing iPadian. The app often gets flagged as malware, and it is not supported by Apple or Microsoft. One seemingly small download is an open door for a cybercriminal to infect your device and steal your data.
Jailbreaking your iPhone Voids Your Warranty and Puts You at Risk
Getting Imessage to work on PC is risky, and this workaround is talked about a lot online, and not just for accessing iMessage in Windows.
Jailbreaking a device lets you do things that otherwise are restricted from the manufacturer. The practice immediately voids your warranty on your iPhone. Another drawback is the effect this could have on your device’s ability to stay secure. We have discussed jailbreaking in other blogs, and have yet to find any reasons to approve of doing so to your devices You’ll find a lot of online hobbyists and power-users talking about jailbreaking or “rooting” their phones and other devices in order to bypass some type of restriction, but if you don’t know what you are doing, you can put yourself at risk. At best, you’ll break your device and have to buy a new one, and at worst, you’ll provide an attack vector for cybercriminals.
Unfortunately, as of right now, there is no supported way to access your iMessages from a Windows device. The risks strongly outweigh the convenience of being able to respond to your text messages from your laptop or desktop. The lesson to take away from this is to be wary of online tutorials and workarounds – they might work, but they also put your personal identity, your data, and your business at risk. If you feel like you really require your texts be synced with your other devices, consider getting a smartphone that matches your computer.
We hope this showed the security risks of getting Imessage to work on PC. Before you attempt a potentially insecure workaround, give the IT experts at Symmetric IT Group a call at (813) 749-0895. It’s much better to check for risk-factors ahead of time. We can conduct an IT audit of your whole business to make sure that hackers are not already in your system. Check out our information security page for more information.
