Beeper Mini has been launched by Beeper to bring iMessage to Android with fewer security issues. The latest app joins the ever-growing list of messaging apps that are trying to bring iMessage to Android, but it stands out from other apps for one very significant reason. While other apps require users to log in using their Apple ID and then relay messages through a Mac hosted on a server farm, Beeper Mini can send iMessage directly from Android phones to Apple servers. With Beeper Mini, the company seems to have solved the issues that forced Nothing and Sunbird to pull their apps from the market recently. Let’s take a look at Beeper Mini and how it works.
Beeper Mini Android Users No Longer Require an Apple ID to Send iMessages
We’re thrilled to launch Beeper Mini – our beautiful new Android app to message with iPhones as a real blue bubble.
Download it today on Google Play! No waitlist. No ads. 7 day free trial: https://t.co/igY9ZZA1Ec pic.twitter.com/ZrGlYslUPz
— Beeper (@onbeeper) December 5, 2023
According to The Verge, Beeper co-founder Eric Migicovsky received the prototype of the app from a 16-year-old developer claiming to have reverse-engineered iMessage. The Verge report claims that the company then used jailbroken iPhones to figure out how iMessage works in depth, how they look, and how to pull messages received from the cloud. All this without requiring an Apple ID.
All that users have to do is download the Beeper Mini and register using a phone number. After that, the app will analyze all messages on the device and figure out which ones are from iMessage users and switch them to Blue Bubbles, and from thereon Beeper Mini will send iMessage to an iPhone user.
The Green Bubble and Blue Bubble debacle has been around ever since iMessage was introduced back in 2011. While Google has been persuading Apple to adopt RCS messaging service on iPhones to narrow the gap between Android and iOS devices, Apple has been adamant about not giving in until recently when it announced that iPhones will adopt RCS messaging in 2024. This will bring all the major features like typing indicators, high-resolution media sharing, etc. However, those who want blue bubbles on Android will still want to use Beeper Mini. Beeper was already offering RCS on iPhones as well as iMessage support.
Apple’s RCS adoption announcement came after Carl Pei’s Nothing announced its Nothing Chat based on the Sunbird messaging platform. While Nothing and Sunbird claimed that the app was end-to-end encrypted, it turned out it was not the case, and users’ data were exposed for all to see in simple text format. This was a huge security issue that forced both Nothing and Sunbird to withdraw their apps from the market.
With Beeper Mini, Migicovsky is claiming that as the app requires only a phone number and sends iMessage directly from Android to Apple’s servers, it’s a third-party iMessage solution that is secure. Beeper is claiming that the new app doesn’t see users’ Apple ID, password, contacts, or messages being sent. Further, Migicovsky has also announced that the Beeper Mini’s iMessage code will be open source for everyone to review, and its CTO Brad Murray is testing the security by trying to hack the system as an attacker and is publishing his findings.
As to whether Apple might block Beeper Mini from using iMessage, the top executive says that the company is on the right side of the law since there is no Apple code used in Beeper Mini. Additionally, he points out a loophole in the copyright for reverse engineering. He also goes on to mention that since its inception in 2021, Beeper has been offering a third-party iMessage solution to Android users, and Apple has not yet taken any action.
This could be because Apple might not want to risk breaking its messaging platform for a third-party solution. However, considering how protective Apple is of iMessage as an iPhone lock-in factor, we can’t entirely write off the possibility that Apple might block such exploitation and break Beeper Mini or other such services in the future. However, that remains to be seen, and as of now, Android users who would like to hop on to the iMessage bandwagon can head to Play Store to download Beeper Mini and enjoy a free 7-day trial.