

Show HN: An iMessage Scheme REPL. scheme [at] irepl.im - dpkendal
http://irepl.im/

======
46Bit
(I'm one of the creators.)

If you're curious about how we did it, take a look at
<https://github.com/46Bit/irepl>. Messages Beta for Mac still has AppleScript
bindings from iChat. We're (ab)using them to pass the iMessages to Heist and
then reply.

~~~
zdw
That sounds like quite a workaround - I'm somewhat surprised that there aren't
any reverse engineered iMessage (or Facetime) clients out there.

Would you happen to know if there is some technical or crypto reason for this?

~~~
pooriaazimi
When apple unveiled FaceTime, Jobs said it would be an open standard. Sadly it
never came to be. I wonder why - that could easily be a competitive advantage
over Skype or countless other _competitors_... Maybe a stupid patent (that
Apple has licensed to use, but has no right to let others use it too) is the
reason?

~~~
shadesandcolour
Actually I remember reading that part of the reason FaceTime hasn't turned
into the open standard that Steve promised is that when he made that
announcement at the event, this was the first time that anyone had heard of it
being an open standard. The FaceTime team had no idea and then maybe he
dropped it after meeting with them. It isn't referenced anywhere except in the
video of the event and breakdowns of the event on blogs.

------
sipefree
Ingenious.

I can't wait to see what other iMessage-based services pop up now that the
AppleScript bindings are exposed.

------
atjoslin
Haha, that is awesome.

------
dutchbrit
Good job chaps!

