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I hazard to guess that the delay is probably privacy and security related. If they are hosting messages on their servers for a longer period then the FBI is going to come knocking a lot more often.
 
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I hazard to guess that the delay is probably privacy and security related. If they are hosting messages on their servers for a longer period then the FBI is going to come knocking a lot more often.
I would say if you don’t send any threatening messages or nudes. You’ll be fine...
 
I would say if you don’t send any threatening messages or nudes. You’ll be fine...

tbh not worried about my nudes. i look good. but Apple is the one concerned since they're hyping their privacy stuff all the time. they dont want to be sitting on information that they would need to sift through all the time to deliver to the feds.
 
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Sounds like they'll be adding a 11.3. They will probably need to anyway to fix the remaining issues that are still present on iOS 11. Apple sucks nowadays. I'm still butt hurt about the poor QA for iOS.

If they don't do a 11.3, I'd say it's 80% likely they put it in iOS 12, since like others have said, they already sort of committed to it. If there is some sort of inherent issue with getting it working in general, then maybe it's not coming, but I highly doubt that, and they wouldn't have announced it like they did if that was the case.
 
Well, I think that they should still do a 11.2.2 and 11.2.3 and 11.2.4 to fix all the bigs before this 11.2.5 that's cooking already.

I really want iMessage in the cloud, so if I need to set up a phone as new without restoring then I don't lose my iMessage history. iOS 11 killed the app launch speed on my iPhone 6 (takes 3-5x longer to load apps than 10.3.3 even after multiple restores in DFU mode), and I don't want to set up as new and lose 9 years of iMessages history on it.

Also would be nice to check iMessages online when you forget your phone and have a PC nearby to use.
 
Well, I think that they should still do a 11.2.2 and 11.2.3 and 11.2.4 to fix all the bigs before this 11.2.5 that's cooking already.

I really want iMessage in the cloud, so if I need to set up a phone as new without restoring then I don't lose my iMessage history. iOS 11 killed the app launch speed on my iPhone 6 (takes 3-5x longer to load apps than 10.3.3 even after multiple restores in DFU mode), and I don't want to set up as new and lose 9 years of iMessages history on it.

Also would be nice to check iMessages online when you forget your phone and have a PC nearby to use.
Not sure that this would include access and use of iMessage online (through iCloud's website).
 
Will "iMessage in iCloud" sync both blue-bubble iMessages as well as green-bubble SMS messages to iCloud, or just the former? I really hope both.

How did it work in the previous betas before it was removed?
 
Where will Apple executives profit from having iMessage functionality in iCloud? Apple is a business and they will not put developers to a task (costs money) if they don't see a financial benefit.
Its about the money.
 
Where will Apple executives profit from having iMessage functionality in iCloud? Apple is a business and they will not put developers to a task (costs money) if they don't see a financial benefit.
Its about the money.
Is this somehow different than many other features in iOS? How are those there if they similarly somehow don't directly benefit Apple executives?
 
Will "iMessage in iCloud" sync both blue-bubble iMessages as well as green-bubble SMS messages to iCloud, or just the former? I really hope both.

How did it work in the previous betas before it was removed?
It's actually "Messages in iCloud" and I believe it supports SMS as well.
 
It's actually "Messages in iCloud" and I believe it supports SMS as well.
They did refer to it that way at WWDC but also used iMessages in iCloud. The way they talked about features and mentioned end-to-end encryption it seemed like it was more for iMessages than anything else. Hard to know for sure though without more information about it all.
 
iMessage-only might be easier since those msgs already pass through Apple's servers. For SMS they would need the iPhone to upload each msg as it is received (unless they make special arrangement with the carriers to modify SMS delivery)?
 
They did refer to it that way at WWDC but also used iMessages in iCloud. The way they talked about features and mentioned end-to-end encryption it seemed like it was more for iMessages than anything else. Hard to know for sure though without more information about it all.
In the beta, I can confirm that it supported both iMessage and SMS/MMS. It syncs the entire local message database with iCloud.

iMessage-only might be easier since those msgs already pass through Apple's servers. For SMS they would need the iPhone to upload each msg as it is received (unless they make special arrangement with the carriers to modify SMS delivery)?
For SMS forwarding between one’s devices, pretty sure this already happens on a pass-through basis (iPhone to server to other devices) very similar to iMessage delivery.
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I hazard to guess that the delay is probably privacy and security related. If they are hosting messages on their servers for a longer period then the FBI is going to come knocking a lot more often.
This is counterproductive because the messages are uploaded encrypted and only able to be decrypted by the devices associated with that account, much like iMessages.

This feature is (partially) in response to authorities recovering unencrypted messages from iCloud device backups. Just like how iCloud Photo Library removes photos from the backup process, Messages in iCloud does the same for messages.
 
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In the beta, I can confirm that it supported both iMessage and SMS/MMS. It syncs the entire local message database with iCloud.


For SMS forwarding between one’s devices, pretty sure this already happens on a pass-through basis (iPhone to server to other devices) very similar to iMessage delivery.
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This is counterproductive because the messages are uploaded encrypted and only able to be decrypted by the devices associated with that account, much like iMessages.

This feature is (partially) in response to authorities recovering unencrypted messages from iCloud device backups. Just like how iCloud Photo Library removes photos from the backup process, Messages in iCloud does the same for messages.

Where did you get that info? My understanding is that all the info stored in iCloud is encrypted but that Apple has the keys in order to facilitate restoration. Whether it’s the iCloud backup file, or the messages or photos stored separately they have keys to it all. Only certain things are end to end encrypted and most iCloud stored things are not.

See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303
 
I personally do not see the HYPE about this feature.
How frequently do you clean install your iPhone/new iDevice, and restore only the messages?

Only circumstance i foresee this happening where it would be NEEDED is where a now deceased person's text history wants to be kept by you forever. This will allow you to keep the history, without junking up your brand new iDevice with bloated transfered old device files.

Seriously,
How frequently will anyone ever use this to explain the hype?

I use every beta on every platform apple has bar WatchOS.
Create a backup -> go to town
 
Where did you get that info? My understanding is that all the info stored in iCloud is encrypted but that Apple has the keys in order to facilitate restoration. Whether it’s the iCloud backup file, or the messages or photos stored separately they have keys to it all. Only certain things are end to end encrypted and most iCloud stored things are not.

See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303
Nope, iCloud Photo Library was designed such that Apple cannot access users’ photo libraries, preventing the possibility of data mining as discussed here:

Every photo and video sent to iCloud Photo Library is encrypted on the device before it is sent to cloud storage, and can only be decrypted by devices that are registered with the iCloud account.

This isn’t quite end-to-end encryption as it’s not per-device, which is why it’s not listed there. I forget whether Messages in iCloud follows the iCloud Photo Library encryption model or goes full end-to-end encryption, and I’m not about to sift through the keynote to see if it was mentioned specifically.
 
I personally do not see the HYPE about this feature.
How frequently do you clean install your iPhone/new iDevice, and restore only the messages?

Only circumstance i foresee this happening where it would be NEEDED is where a now deceased person's text history wants to be kept by you forever. This will allow you to keep the history, without junking up your brand new iDevice with bloated transfered old device files.

Seriously,
How frequently will anyone ever use this to explain the hype?

I use every beta on every platform apple has bar WatchOS.
Create a backup -> go to town

Wiping and setting up as new with ONLY signing into iCloud afterward is one of the MOST common means of troubleshooting a buggy, slow, or battery draining iPhone.

NOBODY likes to wipe a phone as new and sign back into into iCloud while not using ANY backups, just to lose ALL of our iMessage history.
 
Nope, iCloud Photo Library was designed such that Apple cannot access users’ photo libraries, preventing the possibility of data mining as discussed here:



This isn’t quite end-to-end encryption as it’s not per-device, which is why it’s not listed there. I forget whether Messages in iCloud follows the iCloud Photo Library encryption model or goes full end-to-end encryption, and I’m not about to sift through the keynote to see if it was mentioned specifically.

Thanks for that. It doesnt say they can’t access it though. Only that it’s encrypted before transport, which is true of all the iCloud stuff. It reads like they left some wiggle room in saying they don’t use it for data but they don’t specifically say they can’t decrypt it. Sorta reinforces my original comment that security is likely the reason for delay. They probably don’t want to just encrypt it like the other iCloud stuff and need to come up with another solution to completely relive them of the keys.
 
Wiping and setting up as new with ONLY signing into iCloud afterward is one of the MOST common means of troubleshooting a buggy, slow, or battery draining iPhone.

NOBODY likes to wipe a phone as new and sign back into into iCloud while not using ANY backups, just to lose ALL of our iMessage history.
I understand, but this doesnt answer my question. How frequently will anyone use this to explain the hype?

Do you deliberately wipe your phone every week? Every month?

Also if you prefer not to use "ANY backups" then iMessage history cant be that important for yourself..?

Not starting anything, just trying to understand this hype
 
Thanks for that. It doesnt say they can’t access it though. Only that it’s encrypted before transport, which is true of all the iCloud stuff. It reads like they left some wiggle room in saying they don’t use it for data but they don’t specifically say they can’t decrypt it.
They say it can only be decrypted by devices associated with the iCloud account. While we’ll never know the specifics most likely, I’d say Apple can’t feasibly get in (given their stringent policies on account passwords, etc.).
 
I understand, but this doesnt answer my question. How frequently will anyone use this to explain the hype?

Do you deliberately wipe your phone every week? Every month?

Also if you prefer not to use "ANY backups" then iMessage history cant be that important for yourself..?

Not starting anything, just trying to understand this hype

No, I WANT to always use backups. But SOMETIMES the ONLY way to fix an iPhone problem is a fresh start. :)

I have a phone that needs this "fresh start" right now at this very instant, and I wont do it until iMessage is in the iCloud. I had to do this to another phone this spring, and it sucked - fortunately I have two phones that work and are clones of each other, and so I have each backed up to the cloud and to iTunes. But the 3rd phone is fubar and it needs to be set up as new.
 
I personally do not see the HYPE about this feature.
How frequently do you clean install your iPhone/new iDevice, and restore only the messages?

That’s not why I’m looking forward to this - I use three different Apple devices with iMessages and would currently have to manually and separately manage all of them to keep only some of the messages I receive while deleting all others. That’s problematic, so I only do this on one device while the other two languish.

Once this feature is released I can wipe all messages from my other two devices, enable iMessages in iCloud, sync up the messages from my “managed” device and then keep my picks in sync on all three devices, regardless of what device I use to manage my messages. If it works as advertised, it’s going to be a big boon for me.
 
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I think they are sitting on this one toll it is fully baked. They are moving to a SQL database for storage and when they do that is breaks compatibility with previous versions and backups.

You can backup your messages on the Mac and restore them easily but in the beta that all broke.

I have years of conversations stored and I hope that it all works 100% before they roll out iCloud sync for it. Especially after recent blunders.
 
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