“/>Image credits: Whistle
The Beeper Mini app, which brings blue iMessage texts to Android users, was back in action on Monday after a long weekend that saw Apple put an end to Beeper’s services, claiming they posed a security risk. Now, the startup behind the new app says it has resumed work, but has not revealed how it will achieve this. Additionally, the Beeper Mini will be free for the time being due to the unstable nature of Beeper’s case and Apple’s attempts to shut it down.
Founded by Eric Migicowski, founder of the previous Pebble watch, Beeper was originally working on an app that combined all of a user’s chat apps into one interface. However, upon discovering a new technology that allowed her to reverse engineer the iMessage protocol, she set out to create a new app called Beeper Mini that focuses solely on bringing iMessage conversations to Android users for $1.99 per month. This included support for high-quality images and videos, tap interactions, typing indicators, read receipts, and more.
The app quickly climbed into the top 20 on the Play Store charts and saw more than 100,000 downloads in the first 48 hours, the company claims.
Unfortunately, Pepper Minnie’s success was short-lived. Just days after launching the service, Apple on Friday evening took action against the startup, after it found a way to prevent Beeper Mini messages from being passed from Android phones to its servers. The Cupertino-based tech giant explained that it needed to shut down the app because it “poses significant risks to user security and privacy, including potential metadata exposure and enabling spam, spam, and phishing attacks.” Essentially, Apple said it couldn’t verify Beeper’s claims about end-to-end encryption, and therefore it needed to take “steps to protect our users by blocking technologies that exploit fake credentials in order to access iMessage.”
As the Beeper team scrambled to fix the problem, US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) shamed Apple for its interference in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “Green bubble scripts are less secure. So why would Apple block a new app that allows For Android users to chat with iPhone users on iMessage? Executives at big tech companies are protecting profits by crushing competitors. “Chatting between different platforms should be easy and secure,” she wrote.
Beeper announced Monday on its blog that it has updated the Beeper Mini app to fix an issue that “caused messages to not be sent or received.” He didn’t say exactly how this was achieved, but he did note that the Beeper Mini’s security hasn’t changed – promising that it still includes end-to-end local encryption as previously described. Migicowski told TechCrunch that he couldn’t share anything about it beyond what was already in the blog post.
Although the Beeper Mini is working again, there is a warning: phone number registration has not yet worked. This means that users will have to sign in with an Apple ID. The startup says it is working to address this as well.
I also decided to make Beeper Mini free for the time being, given how “chaotic” things have been over the past few days. “Once things settle down (hopefully they will), we will look at getting subscriptions up and running again,” the blog post said.
Although Beeper did not have its app reviewed by an independent third-party security firm before its launch, it is difficult for Apple to test it.
“If Apple doubts the security and privacy of our app, we are willing to share the entire Beeper Mini database with a mutually agreed-upon third-party security research firm,” the blog post said. When asked if they would conduct an audit without Apple’s involvement, Migicowski told us he wanted Apple to approve the company first. The company also said it would be willing to add a paging emoji to the metadata of all its sent messages, which would allow the Messages app to filter messages from Beeper Mini users.
Users can get the updated version of Beeper Mini from beeper.com/update on their phones right now as the company is yet to submit the new version to the Play Store, claiming that it needs to do some final testing. But this means that users are required to download the app update to their devices, which is riskier than downloading from the Play Store, where apps undergo reviews and basic security checks. The app update is now available on Google Play (updated at 1:28 PM ET).
The update, which now prompts users to sign in with their Apple ID, also includes new features, such as chats that will open upon the last unread message and an improved video player, the blog post noted. In tests, signing in with our Apple ID generated a prompt from Apple indicating that our ID was used to sign in with a device “near Los Angeles, California” (where we’re not located). We received an error message “Error sending 2FA” after updating the app, but this issue was resolved through the uninstall/reinstall process. We understand that this is a known bug.
Image credits: Screenshot from our iPhone after setting up the new Beeper Mini
After setting up the new Beeper Mini, a message appeared on our iPhone that said: “The device has been added to your account.” The Mac now has access to iMessage, which provides a hint about the repair Beeper made.
Apple has not yet reached out directly to Beeper, only issuing a statement to the press. It’s not clear at this time if, how, or when the updated version of Beeper will be disabled.
After being shut down by Apple for allegedly violating its terms of service, the Beeper Mini is back in business, much to the delight of Android users who have been longing for a convenient way to access iMessage on their devices. With its innovative approach to enabling iMessage on Android, the Beeper Mini has quickly gained a loyal following and its return signals a new chapter in the ongoing battle between Apple and third-party developers seeking to bridge the gap between iOS and Android messaging platforms.