imsg talks directly to a paired iPhone over the standard Bluetooth MAP (Message Access Profile) and PBAP (Phone Book Access Profile) protocols. No iCloud credentials, no Apple Silicon, no macOS bridge.

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Requirements

• Linux with BlueZ (bluetoothd running)

📎 That's it!

Install

CLI

curl -sSfL https://releases.gnu.foo/imsg/latest/install.sh | sh

Or via cargo:

cargo install imsg

Shell completions

Interactively, no download needed (bash/zsh/fish only; installs to the shell's conventional completion directory after a confirmation prompt):

imsg completions zsh --install

Or print the script and redirect it yourself (works for every shell, including elvish/powershell):

imsg completions zsh > ~/.zfunc/_imsg

Or fetch the prebuilt static file straight from the latest release:

# bash: requires the `bash-completion` package
curl -sSfL https://releases.gnu.foo/imsg/latest/imsg.bash -o ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/imsg

# zsh: add `fpath+=(~/.zfunc)` before `compinit` in ~/.zshrc if not already
curl -sSfL https://releases.gnu.foo/imsg/latest/_imsg -o ~/.zfunc/_imsg

# fish: auto-loaded, no rc edit needed
curl -sSfL https://releases.gnu.foo/imsg/latest/imsg.fish -o ~/.config/fish/completions/imsg.fish

Desktop app

Prebuilt .deb, .rpm, and .AppImage bundles are available at latest release;

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Quick start

Note

Both the GUI and CLI handle device setup automatically, no separate setup step needed. If automatic setup fails, you can manually set the device address and channels via imsg config set-device.

Desktop app

Launch it. The first run walks you through picking your paired device; channel resolution and daemon startup happen automatically, no separate setup step.

CLI

imsg config setup

Lists your paired devices, prompts you to pick one, resolves its MAP/PBAP RFCOMM channels over SDP, and persists the address and both channels together.

For a specific address, or if a device has no discoverable service record, set fields individually instead:

imsg config set-device A1:B2:C3:D4:E5:F6

then edit the channel numbers by hand in ~/.config/imsg/imsg.toml if they differ from the defaults (map=2, pbap=13):

[device]
address      = "A1:B2:C3:D4:E5:F6"
map_channel  = 2
pbap_channel = 13

Read and send messages

imsg list                                     # inbox
imsg list --unread                            # unread only
imsg list sent                                # sent folder
imsg list --from +15550001234 --limit 20      # filter by sender
imsg list --since 20260601T000000 --long      # since a date, show MAP handles
imsg get <handle>                             # full message body
imsg get <handle> --mark-read                 # fetch and mark as read
imsg send +15550001234 "hey"                  # send a message
imsg threads                                  # conversations grouped by contact

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CLI reference

See docs/cli.md for the full command-line reference, or run imsg <command> --help for command-specific flags.

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Hub / spoke (remote Bluetooth adapter)

If your iPhone is paired to a different machine (a Raspberry Pi, a server, a desktop in another room), you can run imsg from any machine on the internet without re-pairing.

On the machine with the paired phone:

imsg hub
# prints: node key: <KEY>

On your laptop (or anywhere else):

imsg spoke add <KEY>
imsg --hub list
imsg --hub send +15550001234 "hello from anywhere"

The hub and spoke connect over QUIC via iroh. No port forwarding or VPN required.

The desktop app picks up the same hub.node_key from config once you've run imsg spoke add, no separate setup.

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Daemon (background sync)

imsg daemon start runs the persistent background broker that keeps the MAP session connected to your paired phone and the local store fresh. Optional for the CLI, which only needs it running explicitly for persistent sync (imsg sync) or hub/spoke routing (--hub).

imsg daemon start              # detaches into the background; idempotent if already running
imsg daemon status              # daemon for A1:B2:C3:D4:E5:F6: connected
imsg daemon stop                # graceful stop; no-op if nothing is running

Run under a process supervisor (e.g. systemd) with --foreground instead, or let imsg register one for you:

imsg daemon install             # user-level systemd/launchd/... unit
imsg daemon install --system    # system-wide (requires elevated privileges)
imsg daemon uninstall [--system]

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Configuration

Config is layered in ascending priority:

compiled-in defaults
/etc/imsg.toml
~/.config/imsg/imsg.toml
./imsg.toml
--config <path>
IMSG_ environment variables   (e.g. IMSG_DEVICE__MAP_CHANNEL=15)

Full key reference:

[device]
address      = "A1:B2:C3:D4:E5:F6"   # required; set via `imsg config set-device`
map_channel  = 2                       # RFCOMM channel for MAP MAS  [1–30], default 2
pbap_channel = 13                      # RFCOMM channel for PBAP PSE [1–30], default 13

[hub]
node_key = "..."                       # set via `imsg spoke add <KEY>`; absent until then

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Building from source

CLI

git clone https://github.com/gnufood/imsg
cd imsg
cargo build --release

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full development workflow.

Desktop app

Needs the GTK/WebKit dev headers Tauri builds against, plus Node for the frontend:

npm ci --prefix crates/imsg-gui/frontend
cargo run --example export_bindings -p imsg-gui   # generates the gitignored frontend/src/bindings.ts
just gui-package

Bundles land under target/release/bundle/{deb,rpm,appimage}/.

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License

MIT. See LICENSE.