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Beeper Mini, which lets Android users receive blue bubble iMessage texts, is working again after Apple temporarily shut it down, citing security concerns.
The app is now free due to uncertainties about its status and Apple’s attempts to stop it. Beeper, created by Eric Migicovsky, initially aimed to combine all chat apps into one interface but shifted to Beeper Mini, focusing on bringing iMessage to Android for $1.99/month.
It gained popularity but was halted by Apple, claiming security risks and potential privacy issues. Apple said it couldn’t confirm Beeper’s encryption claims, leading to the app’s shutdown.
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.
What does Beeper Mini take on Apple shutting it down?
We—of course—expected a response. What we didn’t expect was 1984-esque doublespeak. The statement is complete FUD. Beeper Mini made communication between Android and iPhone users more secure. That is a fact.
Make no mistake, the changes Apple made on Friday were designed to protect the lock-in effect of iMessage. The end result is that iPhone customers have less security and privacy than before.
Update from Beeper Mini
- The security and privacy of Beeper Mini is unchanged. It is still local, end-to-end encrypted on your device, as we described in our post.
- Phone number registration is not working yet. All users must now sign in with an AppleID. Messages will be sent and received via your email address rather than phone number. We’re currently working on a fix for this.
- We’ve made Beeper free to use. Things have been a bit chaotic, and we’re not comfortable subjecting paying users to this. As soon as things stabilize (we hope they will), we’ll look at turning on subscriptions again. If you want to keep supporting us, feel free to leave the subscription on 🙂.
- Our Play Store ranking dropped precipitously on Friday. Leaving us a nice review there would help tremendously.
[Source – Beeper Blog]
