I wonder how long we'll be getting full detail updates on this game of whack-a-mole. I expect it's going to be going on for months, possibly even years. Are sites like The Verge going to keep updating with every traded blow?
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iMessage for Android App 'Beeper Mini' is Back, Apple ID Sign In Now Required and Phone Numbers Don't Work
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Far more people have an iPhone and a Windows PC, so by that logic Apple should make a Windows version first. Thus allowing Android/Windows users with no Apple devices to use Apple’s messaging service. At which point it doesn’t make any sense to use it in the first place, unless you acknowledge that it is a better service than competition.
It could just forward RCS conversations through your iPhone in the same way it does with SMS...
Why are people defending this company on here is unbelievable
I'm not inclined to care whether a third-party company profits off of Apple servers and services or not.
However, I would also caution that we shouldn't think that just because a third-party found a way to access such services and servers therefore means they are now championing open standards for the sake of the public and for the sake of individual freedom / individual rights, etc. etc.
That narrative is decisively false and a red herring design to actually distract us from the continued neoliberal advancement where companies are fighting each other for themselves (and for their rich wealthy owners) in the guise of fighting it for the little guy. They are NOT fighting it for the little guy -- AT ALL. These companies and the wealthy are working the system to claim more and more rights while the everyday commoner is left to the side, but definitely being USED as a pawn to buy sympathy.
In other words, don't go all gung-ho waving flags and shouting about how this is now a win for the little guy. IT ISN'T.
However, I would also caution that we shouldn't think that just because a third-party found a way to access such services and servers therefore means they are now championing open standards for the sake of the public and for the sake of individual freedom / individual rights, etc. etc.
That narrative is decisively false and a red herring design to actually distract us from the continued neoliberal advancement where companies are fighting each other for themselves (and for their rich wealthy owners) in the guise of fighting it for the little guy. They are NOT fighting it for the little guy -- AT ALL. These companies and the wealthy are working the system to claim more and more rights while the everyday commoner is left to the side, but definitely being USED as a pawn to buy sympathy.
In other words, don't go all gung-ho waving flags and shouting about how this is now a win for the little guy. IT ISN'T.
Thanks for saying this. Most rational macrumors post so far I’m all for this Tom and Jerry too.
If this will continue to be a cat and mouse game, the product is DOA. No one wants to pay for a messaging service, let alone one that is unreliable.
Using RCS isn’t going to resolve the group message issue. Whether someone is using SMS or RCS won’t matter as they’re both not being managed through the iMessages server. RCS will simply mean you can send/receive media at native resolutions, send longer messages, get read receipts and see typing indicators. That’s probably about it.
I’d argue that a major portion of consumers simply don’t use Windows or Mac at all. Enabling iMessage on Windows will fill in some gaps in the potential user base, but Android will essentially make it available to everyone on-the-go.
Also, why not make Messages for Windows? I would personally love that.
Maybe make it so you need a higher-tier Apple One plan. Make it so your main device needs to be an iPhone.
That’s not how Beeper Mini works. Beeper Cloud and other services, yes. Beeper Mini was the first I’m aware of to implement iMessage running directly on-device, using one’s phone number (unavailable at least for now), instead of requiring some passthrough server.
I haven’t yet seen whether Beeper Mini’s new setup allows them to see your Apple ID credentials at all, let alone whether they keep them.
ETA: Beeper appears to claim in their blog post about this that the new Beeper Mini setup remains strictly on-device, implying that any information is sent directly to Apple. I’ve asked them to clarify this explicitly, though.
ETA (again): Yep, they clarified that Apple ID information for Beeper Mini is strictly on-device.
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Yep, I was right. This is just like the time Palm kept hacking things to get their phones to connect to iTunes. Apple will respond again, shutting it down again. They can keep trying, but it didn't work out well for Palm. This is Apple, and they're much bigger now, and this company is much smaller than Palm was at the time. If you subscribe to this "service", you're dumb. At the very least, even if we entertain the notion that Apple can't stop this, their lawyers certainly will since this company is charging a fee to use Apple's servers.
This is what I wrote on the last story, and I think it's worth it for Apple to try this:
This is what I wrote on the last story, and I think it's worth it for Apple to try this:
I don’t know exactly how these systems work, but I can imagine it is not simple to span devices like Apple is doing it, if you are a third party client on one or more of the platforms. My guess is that people eant iMessage because of how well it works on an all Apple ecosystem, but if they got access to it, the experience is likely to be l’not so great. I can see how Apple would bot want to provide a poor iMessage experience on Android and Windows, because that is poor marketing for the Apple ecosystem.
I couldn't care less if Apple has a tizzy fit over iMessage on Android. We need cross-device interoperability today more than ever. The lack of transparency with these companies is what really concerns me. Refusal to Open Source even the basic portions of the app is just asking for trouble, especially from a company that claims that level of encryption. Even Apple strongly supports OSS from a security standpoint, these people are just grifters begging for personal data.
It is a chat app — hardly different from Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp.
If Apple can offer Apple Music and TV apps, they can handle a simple chat client.
I’d argue that no interoperability at all is worse for “marketing” than allowing it. Is Apple getting good press over the lack of iMessage on other platforms?
Messaging is already fragmented, even though plenty of apps are available on all platforms. One more messaging service that is available to everyone will not magically make everyone use the same service. Especially not one that costs money, while all the others are free.
Beeper Mini or similar is not a magic bullet” to unite everyone. It is just a guy trying to make a bit of dough by spotting a niche.
Yeah I’m not saying Beeper Mini is the solution — not at all. I just want a legitimate solution.
Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp are not as good as iMessage. I use both. Apple Music and TV are more or less stand alone apps, where you are not very likely to switch devices on-the-fly like you are with messaging apps.
And more importantly, since apps like those already exist, what is iMessage bringing to the table anyway?
Is it just me or is The Verge pretty much on the same level as Gizmodo in terms of clickbaity, low quality tech news? I still largely remember The Verge as the site that had the temerity to complain about mobile web browser performance while having over 50 tracking scripts on a single page load.
Won’t happen. This area is fragmented, and will stay that way.
Didn't Nothing and Sunbird do this? Their shoddy implementation allowed attackers to snoop on messages with very little skill and effort. It looks like this might lead to a similar situation. An Apple ID ties to things like healthcare information, keychain passwords, credit and debit cards, etc. It seems absurd to hand that info to a third party. People are perfectly entitled to pester Apple to release iMessage on Android (heck, they could charge a subscription and make a killing), but nobody should be condoning this approach.