This was the mistake; it could have been a whispered feature that those in the know could let others know, but it became front-page news and got killed.
I don’t know, it’s too big a story. As soon as any tech journalist became “in the know“ there would be a very strong chance that it would become news anyway.
It certainly would’ve lasted longer than putting out a press announcement though.
Move fast and break Terms of Service.
That someone has iMessage on android without the remote device work around would have blown up regardless.