Glad it's shut down.
The guy better refund every customer, too!
The guy better refund every customer, too!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Puts a Stop to Beeper Mini's iMessage for Android Feature
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Maybe Apple should have waited a little longer, till the developer had more subscribers and users were more invested before pulling the rug?
Nobody is stopping your cross platform communication. There are a number of apps that allow this.
RCS?
That’s your opinion and there are others that may think differently.
You mean by shutting down unauthorized access into its servers?
As yogi Berra put it: “it ain’t over till it’s over”.
They proved iMessage could be hacked but that loophole is gone.
Maybe apple be apple.
Apple and open standards are enemies. Very bully from Apple. Shame on Tim.
Meanwhile, Bluetooth still DONT WORK for “old” devices. Talk about priorities….
Meanwhile, Bluetooth still DONT WORK for “old” devices. Talk about priorities….
Uh no. That's nowhere near to be called "hack".
Hack means you can steal data or enter secured system by defeating it's security. None of those were made here.
That company had to know they would quickly patch the exploit like the company would any other exploit, so what was the point of doing it at all since it presumably took a long time and money to develop and the app? Unless more to get attention and the hope to get have the developers get acquired by another company or something to put on your resume? Otherwise the company was under severe delusion and thought Apple wouldn't block it, which would be even more concerning.
Use WhatsApp or Telegram as the rest of the world.
Shame, but they needed to do this from a legal standpoint.
I just hope that they (Apple) have wisdom to merge iMessage with their future RCS rollout, rather than just have two systems interoperate. Actually improve RCS by open-sourcing iMessage. I doubt that will happen, but it would be the best path for everyone.
I just hope that they (Apple) have wisdom to merge iMessage with their future RCS rollout, rather than just have two systems interoperate. Actually improve RCS by open-sourcing iMessage. I doubt that will happen, but it would be the best path for everyone.
Some nice relevant quotes from the TechCrunch. For all the haters here who don't understand the tech.
It isn't the blue bubble specifically, it is all the features of iMessage which the blue bubble represents.
No one has been charged for beeper mini yet. It was a 7 day trial and it hasn't even been 7 days.
iMessage is a pretty much US thingy. Don't think it bothers the rest of the world as we predominately use other apps for cross-platform messaging, like Telegram, Whatsapp, Line, WeChat, etc...
How much should they charge for it? All of Apple’s major cross-platform apps generate revenue in some way, the most prominent being Apple TV and Apple Music, both of which require a monthly subscription.
Naw. I enjoy watching videos on an 8 inch screen that folds into a 6.3 inch one.
If I were to switch to Android, it would force everybody I’m in an iMessage group chat with to change their habits, use a different app, and have an abandoned years-long chat history full of memories left dormant in memoriam of the friend who switched to Android.
It’s not as simple as “you can just use other apps.” If I switched to Android, I would likely need to adapt to my friends’ habits and chat with them in whichever messenger they happen to use. And finding a mutual app to continue each group chat sounds miserable.
It’s so stupid that we’re having this conversation, because for some reason (it’s money), iMessage needs to be the only chat service locked to one company’s devices.
Those who are in the know will remember DSMOS.kext for macOS … cat and mouse game for running macOS x86 on non Apple hardware. Apple pulling the plug on iMessage on android reminds me of tha debacle.
I must be missing something here
I don't understand why so many people are so happy about this
I mean I don't care either way. just seems strange unless it effects people in some way I haven't thought of
I don't understand why so many people are so happy about this
I mean I don't care either way. just seems strange unless it effects people in some way I haven't thought of
Yeah, well, I don’t think it’s childish to not want to see prices for Apple services go up because Apple is expected to support companies freeloading off their servers.
If Apple lets this slide, a precedent is set. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be making iMessage clones, and every Android user in the world will be hammering Apple servers. That’s a massive cost that will get passed on to actual Apple customers. Hope you like paying $4.99 a month for Messages+.
Which I believe was held back by patent trolls, if I’m remembering right.
Kinda feels like how everyone around me uses WhatsApp, and I have had very limited success in attempting to move them over to Telegram.
Change has to start somewhere.
Less happy, and more of a "you didn't see that coming" reaction. Anyone believing that Apple might leave it alone for fear of attracting additional legislative attention clearly doesn't know how Apple works.
I only use Google Voice on my iPhone. All of my bubbles are green and nobody knows my real phone number.
No surprise.
Apple appears to have closed the loophole that Beeper Mini used to bring iMessage to Android, putting a stop to blue bubbles from Android devices. Beeper Mini quit working earlier today, with users receiving "failed to lookup on server: lookup request timed out" error messages.
Beeper said on Twitter that it is investigating the issue, but Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky told TechCrunch that "all data" suggests that Apple has in fact found a way to stop Beeper Mini from working.
Introduced on Tuesday, Beeper Mini used reverse engineered iMessage protocols and encryption, taking advantage of Apple's own iMessage servers to allow Android users to send blue bubble iMessages to iPhone users. The app supported all iMessage functionality, including read receipts, typing indicators, reactions, and more.
Beeper Mini did not require an Apple ID, a departure from other, less secure iMessage on Android apps like Sunbird. The way Beeper Mini functioned was explained in-depth in a blog post, giving Apple insight into how it worked. Beeper Mini was using reverse engineering from security researcher jjtech, who also outlined his methodology and shared a proof-of-concept iMessage implementation on Github.
The app communicated directly with Apple's iMessage servers, and registered the phone numbers of Beeper users as iMessage users to allow for blue bubble access. After Beeper Mini's launch, there was immediate speculation that Apple would shut it down, but it was not clear if Apple would be able to do so given the way that it mimicked actual iMessage users.
Apple appears to have found a way, so this could be the end of Beeper Mini. Migicovsky told TechCrunch that the company will "evaluate options" to figure out what it means for the future of the app.
Article Link: Apple Puts a Stop to Beeper Mini's iMessage for Android Feature
Yeah, because few additional iMessage users surely means Apple has to charge for this service...
Because Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal is not free. It's like messaging service is resource heavy or something.