BlueBot
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BlueBot for Mac

BlueBot is a menu bar app that sends your texts through Messages and reads the replies. Install it on a Mac that stays on.

The download opens at launch. Until then, start your 7-day trial or read the docs.

For macOS 14 Sonoma or later

Requirements

What your Mac needs

Once BlueBot is running, it checks most of these for you and tells you when one needs fixing.
macOS 14 Sonoma or later
BlueBot is built for it and won’t open on an older version of macOS.
Messages, signed in to your Apple ID
BlueBot sends through Messages, so your texts come from the number and the Apple ID that Messages uses.
Full Disk Access for BlueBot
BlueBot reads Messages’ database (chat.db) to confirm each send and see the replies. It only reads the database and never changes it.
Permission to control Messages
BlueBot uses it to tell Messages to send. macOS asks once, the first time BlueBot sends a text, and lists it under Automation in Privacy & Security.
An iPhone with Text Message Forwarding on
Regular texts (SMS) to people without iMessage go out through your iPhone. Turn it on for this Mac in your iPhone’s Messages settings.
A Mac that stays awake and online
Your Mac checks in every 10 seconds and sends what’s ready. While it’s asleep or offline it sends nothing, and your texts wait for it. BlueBot can set the Mac never to sleep, and macOS asks for your administrator password to allow that.

If FileVault is on, a Mac that restarts waits at its password screen, and Messages can’t open until someone types it. BlueBot’s checks point this out so a power cut doesn’t stop your texts without you knowing.

After you install

From download to your first text

Each step says what to do and why BlueBot needs it.

  1. Step 1: Install it

    Open BlueBot.dmg and drag BlueBot into your Applications folder.

    Why: BlueBot runs from there and updates itself in place.

  2. Step 2: Open it

    BlueBot’s icon, a blue speech bubble and a green one, appears in the menu bar at the top of your screen. It has no Dock icon.

    Why: It runs in the background all day.

  3. Step 3: Sign in

    BlueBot opens your browser. Sign in to your BlueBot account and press Connect this Mac.

    Why: That pairs this Mac with your account. An account has one Mac, so connecting a new one disconnects the old one.

  4. Step 4: Grant the permissions

    Turn on Full Disk Access for BlueBot in System Settings, under Privacy & Security. Turn on Text Message Forwarding for this Mac on your iPhone, and let BlueBot keep the Mac awake.

    Why: A text can stall when any of them is missing. BlueBot’s checks show which ones you still need to turn on.

  5. Step 5: Text yourself

    From Get started on your dashboard, send a test text to your own number. When macOS asks whether BlueBot may control Messages, allow it.

    Why: It tests the whole path from BlueBot to your Mac to Messages and back without texting anyone else.

BlueBot never asks you to turn off System Integrity Protection.

Some tools need it off so they can send tapbacks and typing indicators, or edit and unsend a text. BlueBot doesn’t do those things, so your Mac keeps Apple’s protection on, and BlueBot only ever reads Messages’ database.

What a Mac can and can’t doSecurity