Home Internet, Software & Apps Apple cuts off iMessage access to Android app Beeper Mini shortly after launch

Apple cuts off iMessage access to Android app Beeper Mini shortly after launch

By Marcia Sekhose -

Published On: December 11, 2023

Highlights

Beeper Mini stopped working shortly after it launched for Android phones.
It looks like Apple has indeed cut off access to it citing privacy reasons.
Beeper continues to fix the issue so that people can text iMessage users.

Apple is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to third-party iMessage apps. Just last week, startup Beeper launched 'Beeper Mini', an Android app that lets you text iMessage users. This happiness was however short-lived as the app started facing server outage with Apple most likely cutting access to iMessage.

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Apple vs Beeper Mini

Beeper started reporting issues on December 9th with people not being able to send or receive messages. We faced the same problem as well with the app saying "failed to lookup on server: lookup request timed out." Beeper acknowledged the issue and started posting on X (Twitter) saying that it's working on a fix. It managed to fix the issue but only for a short while. Beeper Mini still fails to work, and messages are not getting delivered.

Apple hasn't explicitly mentioned Beeper but it did release a statement on why it has blocked access to iMessage.

At Apple, we build our products and services with industry-leading privacy and security technologies designed to give users control of their data and keep personal information safe. We took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage. These techniques posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata exposure and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks. We will continue to make updates in the future to protect our users.

Beeper basically reverse-engineered the iMessage protocol to enable cross-platform messaging on its app. "So Beeper Mini doesn't use a Mac server as a relay like all the other apps — they have a Mac Mini in a data centre somewhere. And when you send a message, you're actually sending a message to the Mac Mini, which then forwards it to iMessage," explained Beeper co-founder and CEO Eric Migicovsky.

The startup also highlighted that its app is end-to-end encrypted so neither Beeper nor Apple can read your messages. But Apple's stance is pretty clear on not risking user privacy by allowing a third-party app to bypass iMessage's servers. Beeper continues to fight though, and even reiterated saying that its app provides safer messaging than unencrypted SMS. But it looks like Apple isn't going to allow access to iMessage anymore.