Reverse Engineering Apple's typedstream Format
9 comments
·February 3, 2025dbyte
The grandfather of protobuf. Lost in the tales of time.
dim13
Grandfather of Protobuf is ASN.1
css
iMessage uses a very strange amalgamation of typedstream (message content), keyed archives (app messages, sticker data), and protobufs (Digital Touch, handwriting) for different features. I wonder what motivated all of those design decisions.
bengarney
This is stuff is such a PIA to parse. I assume it's just different teams doing different features over the years, and being alternately repulsed/seduced by each format. Probably features are implemented as libraries so there isn't a master oversight - they aren't trying to make iMessage's internal formats follow a consistent plan, just let all the libs coexist...
nativeit
Question from a relatively uninformed sysadmin/freelance I.T. provider—will these new iMessage functions allow for 3rd-party applications (ie—CRMs, client support platforms, etc.) to read and/or work with incoming iMessages from my iCloud account? The only thing I really miss since coming from Android was my ability to consolidate all of my client communications, many of whom send text messages first and foremost (which I prefer).
bengarney
I have a product that does exactly this. E-mail me at ben AT theengine DOT co, I'd love to show it to you and see if it would help.
css
Apple provides Messages for Business [0], but if you have a machine that can read the iMessages as they come in, you could use the library [1] that powers `imessage-exporter` as a bridge.
swiftcoder
Nice writeup! I wonder if gnustep's NSUnarchiver could be augmented for full compatibility with Foundation?
I was curious how chat gpt can analyze this giving some general instructions https://chatgpt.com/share/67a102b0-b3e4-8003-974d-2ef73a738a...