Chat

An iMessage client for the Light Phone III, inspired by and based on the apps created by vandamd. The app works by talking to an always-on, self-hosted BlueBubbles Server, reached privately over Tailscale.

I built this to replace OpenBubbles on my LPIII, which I found to be both a battery hog and very flaky in terms of displaying and ordering messages correctly.

Open the app to a list of conversations (newest activity first); tap one to read the thread, or tap New to start one (searches your contacts by name/number/email). Tap Messages at the top for settings, Refresh to re-pull.

Prequisites

There are several things you have to have up and running in order for this to work.

1. A LightPhoneIII modified to reveal the full Android layer. For full instructions on this, I highly recommend fully reading this guide.
2. A BlueBubbles server up and running on an always-on Mac, which is signed into your iMessage account.
3. Tailscale installed on your Mac and and your modified LPIII.

Setup

1. Install BlueBubbles Server. Install it from bluebubbles.app on a Mac that is signed into your iMessage account and stays awake. During setup it asks you to set a server password — remember it; the app uses it to authenticate.

   In the setup steps, you should skip / ignore the Google Firebase section entirely, as well as the Proxy Service. You can set that to LAN only. Tailscale (in the next step) will handle it from here.

2. Put the Mac and the phone on the same tailnet. Install Tailscale on both and sign them into the same account. On the Mac, expose the BlueBubbles port (default 1234) over HTTPS with Tailscale Serve:

   tailscale serve --bg 1234

   This gives the Mac a stable https://<machine>.<tailnet>.ts.net URL with TLS, reachable only from your own devices — no public exposure, no certificates to manage. (Any other HTTPS reverse proxy works too; Tailscale Serve is just the easiest.) Run tailscale serve status to see the URL.

3. Install this app. The best way to do it is to put this url into Obtainium.

4. Configure the app. On first launch, enter that https://…ts.net URL and the BlueBubbles server password. The app validates them against the server and stores them on the device.

Optional: enable the Private API (tapbacks, read receipts, typing)

By default BlueBubbles can only send via AppleScript, which can't send tapbacks, mark chats read, or send typing indicators. For a full list of features enabled by the private API, see this page. Those need BlueBubbles' Private API, which injects a helper into Messages — and that requires turning off two macOS protections. It's optional; skip this and everything else still works.

1. Disable Library Validation (lets the helper load into Messages):

   sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.libraryvalidation.plist DisableLibraryValidation -bool true

2. Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP). Boot into Recovery (Apple Silicon: hold the power button → Options; Intel: hold ⌘R at boot), open Terminal, run csrutil disable, then reboot. Verify with csrutil status — it should read disabled. (On Apple Silicon this also disables running iOS apps on the Mac.) Do this at your own risk; a VM snapshot first is wise.

3. Flip it on in the server. BlueBubbles Server → Settings → Private API toggle on. There's no bundle to install by hand — the server injects the helper itself. Hit refresh on the Private API Status box; it should report the helper connected. (GET /api/v1/server/info then shows "private_api": true and "helper_connected": true — the app reads this to decide whether to offer tapbacks etc.)

Optional: full-color photo viewing

The Light Phone's grayscale is Android's accessibility color-correction filter, which apps can lift with a permission only grantable over adb. With it granted, tapping a photo in a thread shows it in full color for exactly as long as the viewer is open — the phone returns to grayscale the moment you dismiss it (the same trick as zero's red-text mode):

adb shell pm grant com.craigeley.chat android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS

One-time; it survives app updates. Without it, photos simply open in grayscale like the rest of the phone.

For instant delivery after a reboot without opening the app, enable Tailscale's Always-on VPN on the phone (Android Settings → Network → VPN) and leave "Block connections without VPN" off — the live socket reconnects the moment the tunnel comes up.

Install

Install the app via Obtainium.

License

MIT.