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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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Ok, well then, I look forward to seeing these articles for years to come.
there are 3,000,000,000 android users. 100,000 downloads does not seem to indicate "Android and iPhone customers 'desperately want to be able to chat together'" as the developer says.
Questions of legality aside, it’s actually pretty neat if you’re even remotely a tinkerer at heart.
No, they used a different approach with a passthrough server. Beeper Mini communicates with iMessage directly on-device.
Beeper Mini talks directly to Apple's servers. There is no Mac mini server farm middleman. I'd still be skeptical about the possibility of them skimming the account credentials, but I guess I would also think them trying to break in would just trigger a 2FA popup and then nothing.
It’s about what iMessage isn’t bringing to the table.
100,000 signups for a sketchy app which was guaranteed to break in a couple of days is insanely indicative of the demand.
If Apple released iMessage for Android officially I guarantee it’d break records for first-day app downloads.
Yeah, same here. People just love to complain - keeps them happy for a few hours.
Who thinks that behind this Beeper thing with iMessage is Google, such as Google providing some engineering resources to Beeper to keep finding inroads to the iMessaging system? I wouldn't be surprised it exists.
After Apple shut down the mechanism that Android app Beeper Mini was using to bring iMessage to Android users, Beeper Mini's developers today said that they have found a way to bring the app back, albeit with some major changes.
The new version of the app requires users to sign in with an Apple ID, which was not needed with the prior version. All iMessages are also now sent and received through an email address rather than a phone number, though a fix is in development.
The prior version of Beeper Mini did not require an Apple ID, and it registered each Android user's phone number with Apple's iMessage servers without Apple's permission. The app's developers used reverse engineered iMessage protocols for the initial Beeper Mini release, taking advantage of Apple's iMessage servers.
Registering Android phone numbers with iMessage servers allowed Android users to send blue bubble messages to iPhone users, and the app supported all iMessage functionality, including read receipts, typing indicators, reactions, and more.
Apple was not keen on a third-party app registering non-iPhone numbers with its iMessage servers, and Apple ended up blocking Beeper Mini on Friday. Beeper Mini users were unable to send and receive messages when Apple made a change to its iMessage servers, and Beeper Mini founder Eric Migicovsky said at the time that Apple had found a way to stop Beeper Mini from working.
Apple on Saturday released a statement confirming that it took steps to shut down Beeper Mini. Apple said that the techniques that the app used posed risks to the security and privacy of iMessage users.
In a blog post, the Beeper Mini team said that Beeper Mini had the "fastest growing paid Android application in history," with more than 100,000 downloads. This is evidence that Android and iPhone customers "desperately want to be able to chat together" with all of the features available on iMessage.
Beeper Mini's developers say that despite reaching out to Apple, they have not heard back. It is unlikely that Apple will give in and allow Beeper Mini to function as it did, and Apple may shut down further functionality as well if it can.
There were questions about whether Apple would be able to put a stop to Beeper Mini because of the way that it mimicked an Apple device and registered phone numbers as Apple users, but Apple found a way. Apple does have plans to bring all iMessage like features to chats between iMessage users and Android users through RCS, a protocol that Apple will add to iPhones next year.
RCS will bring support for high quality video and images, emoji reactions, typing indicators, read receipts, and more, all features that Beeper Mini says that Android and iPhone users are desperate to have in cross-platform chats.
While Beeper Mini was a paid app with a 7-day free trial, Beeper Mini's developers plan to make it free because of the instability of the app. "Things have been a bit chaotic and we're not comfortable subjecting paying users to this," reads the blog post. Beeper Mini will be a subscription app again "as soon as things stabilize."
Article Link: iMessage for Android App 'Beeper Mini' is Back, Apple ID Sign In Now Required and Phone Numbers Don't Work
A lot of complaining in the comment section over Beeper Mini. Remember the stories of dates ghosting people on Android? The stories of kids excluding others from conversations on Android.
Beeper Mini probably wouldn't exist if some Apple users weren't such insufferable elitist.
Seriously wouldn't be necessary. If Apple's API's are web based it would be trivial with a jail broken phone to monitor and study traffic.
It doesn't seem hard if a single person cared enough to do it and considering the spam I have seen in my single years in dating apps, it doesn't take big money to pull this off.
Honestly I am surprised it took this long. The scammers Apple is worried about probably doesn't care THAT much about their service because they can reach their users in the same screen via old fashioned off the shelf SMS.
I still don't understand the motivation for Apple to do this. Yes they improve the experience of the whatever percentage of iPhone users who use iMessage and SMS exclusively, but at a huge cost to them in terms of supporting all of those extra devices with no additional revenue, all with the privilege of losing one of their competitive advantages.
I appreciate the service Beeper provides, helping Apple harden their security.
That said, I look forward to Beeper eventually being obliterated.
That said, I look forward to Beeper eventually being obliterated.
Android users who create an Apple account for the sole purpose of using this app have nothing to lose by giving out those Apple credentials, as they won't be using the account for any other reason than to send iMessages. Just create an Apple account and give only the absolute minimum of information needed during signup. That way, should the account get compromised at a later date, there is no risk to the individual who set up the account.
You lose control of your text history. Brilliant.
Kind of boils down to trust. Beeper Mini doesn't use a Mac in a closet like the rest.
So you would be taking their word for it that they don't harvest your credentials from the device like you take Apple's word for it that they can't access your data and won't change things so they can in the future.
They don't have the earned trust Apple has so they have to resort to independent security audits and open sourcing their code to build that trust.
I am actually surprised that the number is that high.
If I had an Android device and want to use iMessage, there's no way I would pay $1.99/month for a service that will be frequently disrupted by Apple.
Most importantly, if I was a devout Android user, why would I care if Apple users see my conversation as green bubbles?
This is getting ridiculous. If you want iMessage functionality, get an iPhone. Android users are ridiculous.
It’s like being angry at Burger King for them not giving you a Big Mac yet you demand they do.
It’s like being angry at Burger King for them not giving you a Big Mac yet you demand they do.
I agree with this point. Being an Android user… I was concerned when they launched this with a price tag. I admittedly tried it… didn’t add my AppleID though. But the feature where it recognized my phone number tied to iMessage… worked.
At face value… it’s definitely a feature that should be paid for given the popularity of such a thing, I was hoping they would have placed a donation into the app instead of a subscription.
Apple users constantly bring up this topic about the color of the bubbles… Android users couldn’t care less about the color, it’s the features that’s behind it.
I used Android after ditching my iPhone 6 right up until I purchased an iPhone 14 Pro and during that time iMessages never once came to mind. Having used RCS messaging on both Google and Samsung devices during that time and now using iMessage, iMessage doesn't do anything I couldn't do on Android. Even if it did, I certainly wouldn't have paid a monthly fee to use it.