They’re these annoying kids, or more accurately, a nerdy kid, a teenage genius who tapped into Apple’s iMessage protocol until he hacked it, re-engineered it, and then sold the idea to Beeper.
Oh, and have you heard about Beeper, the company that within a couple of weeks launched a pair of Android messaging apps that somehow grant green bubbles access to blue bubble status? That’s right, Beeper, Inc., the company that’s now trying to keep the Beeper Mini afloat while Apple may be quietly undermining it.
I’ve been following the story for a week or so that came amid a flurry of other news related to iMessage vs. Android Messaging.
First, Nothing Phone didn’t offer the Nothing Phones app, which allegedly opens messaging conversations between Nothing phones and Apple’s impenetrable iMessage, until we learned there were major security issues with the Sunbird app on which Nothing Chat is based.
Then, Apple made a surprise announcement that it would support RCS messaging on iPhones next year. This will finally open up the rich messaging path between Android and iOS, except that support will continue side by side iMessage and not inside it.
But the Beeper Mini is something different. It’s not a locked app to the phone brand, and it’s not designed to work outside of iMessage.
According to a report on CBS News, Bieber had been working on an iMessage app for years before high school student James Gill took it on his own for a project he originally called “Pypush.”
Gill detailed his work in a development blog in August. It’s fairly dense, though it appears that Jill figured out a way to get Apple’s servers to accept, encrypt, and deliver Android messages (and media) by tricking them into thinking they’re seeing iMessage content. Gill points out how iMessage uses a “binary blob” to verify that non-Apple devices aren’t using iMessage.
The wisdom of youth
The teenager figured out how to avoid the “validation data” problem by creating custom code that could “simulate an obfuscated binary.” I know it’s complicated, but what Jill did is also clear. Once the system was tricked into thinking the message was from an iPhone and not an Android device, the iMessage servers put an end-to-end encryption shell on it and, well, Bob is your uncle.
I wonder if, as I understand it at least, it’s tricking Apple’s iMessage processing system, which is what prompted Apple to provide this Apple statement to CBS News tech reporter Joe Ling Kent on the subject:
“These technologies pose significant risks to user security and privacy… We have taken steps to protect our users by blocking technologies that exploit fake credentials in order to access iMessage.”
From what I can see, Apple is working on real-time reverse-engineering Gill, while it clearly has no impact on the wider world of iMessage messaging. Before long, the Beeper Mini probably won’t work with iMessage at all, and Gill’s great work will be undone.
Senator @amyklobuchar + @SenMikeLee + @RepJerryNadler @RepKenBuck sent this to the Department of Justice regarding the ongoing fight between the Beeper Mini and Apple “to investigate whether this potentially anti-competitive conduct by Apple violates antitrust laws.” I’ll get the full story on @CBSmornings tmrw pic.twitter.com/pj6ef432TKDecember 18, 2023
This brings us to the other wrinkle in this story. US lawmakers are charging Apple again for what they consider anti-competitive practices. The US Senators shared a letter with CBS’ Kent outlining their concerns.
On one level, I can’t see how protecting the messaging system and the security of its users somehow hurts Android competitors. On the other hand, this argument ignores the strange psychology of green versus blue bubbles. In the US at least, a green bubble (standard SMS text) might seem like a no-brainer.
Some people think green bubbles aren’t cool. I know it’s silly, but there’s very real value to everyone being in the blue iMessage bubble: All participants get end-to-end encryption, send receipts, post-send editing, and high-resolution photos and videos. Cross-platform messaging doesn’t do that. That’s why people like Gill and companies like Beeper are going to great lengths to break Apple’s stranglehold on its iMessage platform.
In fact, a legislator’s call for an investigation would result in little more than hearings — if that. The Beeper Mini will eventually fail and we’ll forget about the app, Gill, and the legislators’ dismay.
But should we?
Mr. Cook, tear down this wall
If Apple has learned anything from this, it’s not that it needs to make its messaging handling more technically complex. It’s like Apple building more fortified walls to keep the people living in green bubbles out, when instead, it could be building surveillance gates to let some people in.
What I mean is that it’s time for Apple to finally build iMessage for Android. Sure, we’ll soon have cross-platform RCS support, but that will still create a green bubble ghetto on the iPhone. If Apple builds an iMessage app for Android phones, we’ll finally have one cross-platform app for all the blue bubbles.
It’s time for Apple to give up this small competitive advantage and focus on winning based on design, cameras, battery life, and ease of use. It won’t win the platform wars because of iMessage, but it might win some hearts and minds if it brings iMessage to its biggest competitor.
Or he could wait until another teen cracks his code.
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For years, iPhone users have enjoyed the exclusive perks of iMessage, the popular messaging platform that allows for seamless communication with other Apple device owners. However, with the recent revelation that a teenage genius was able to crack the iMessage code and develop an unofficial Android version, it is evident that there is a growing demand for iMessage to be made available to Android users. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, Apple must recognize the need to expand their messaging platform to Android in order to remain competitive and meet the needs of a diverse user base.