It appears that the inevitable has occurred. The reverse-engineered app Beeper Mini, which used a blue bubble hack to bring iMessage to Android devices, appears to have encountered an official roadblock from Apple. Several users have reported online in the last few hours that their Beeper Mini texts are not being received.
It seems that Apple is obstructing server access in some way. In response to a question about whether Apple caused the outage, founder Eric Migicovsky stated that it was probably the case. Yes, every piece of data suggests that, Migicovsky said to TechCrunch.
Welp, that didn't last very long.
— Raven (@Razar_the_Raven) December 8, 2023
I'm affected on the Beeper Mini as well. I get a little toast notification that I can't reach the person if I want to write to them.
Although, the OG Beeper app still works fine. Although it's sending a message by email and not a phone number. pic.twitter.com/JG2qYisLAv
Curiously, it looks like a geo-locked mess for the time being. According to my American colleague, Beeper Mini is reporting a message delivery failure. I can now use Beeper Mini to send iMessage texts from an Android phone to my iPhone here in India.
The majority of the features, including typing indicators, GIF reactions, and delivery status, also seem to be operating without a hitch. Nevertheless, I am unable to send a message to my colleague in the United States, and I am unable to see a delivery or read indicator.
If Apple is the cause of this, it appears that the company only deployed the patch in the United States, where it has the largest user base for iMessage. Migicovsky has been contacted by Digital Trends to provide further details about the circumstance. As soon as we have an update from him, we will update this story.
Investigating reports that sending/receiving is not working in Beeper Mini 🔎
— Beeper (@onbeeper) December 8, 2023
It's important to remember that Beeper Mini is still an unofficial iMessage solution even with its apparent flawless operational credentials. Since Apple considers iMessage to be a valuable iPhone feature, the company has traditionally prevented iMessage from coming to Android devices.
Because of this gap, all texts sent from Android and Apple smartphones use the outdated SMS protocol. You consequently lose out on all of the stylish texting capabilities enjoyed by iPhone users and available on messaging services such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
Did I also bring up the issue with the green text bubble when sending messages from an Android phone? Yes, that is also a factor. Sunbird made an attempt to introduce iMessage to Android users through a hack that tricked Apple systems by using Mac relays. However, it was shut down quickly due to security issues and questionable foundations. For its Nothing Chats app, Nothing borrowed the same technology, but it quickly removed it for the same reasons.
Beeper Mini does not employ any Mac relay hack of this kind. There is no request for your Apple ID. Rather, it was the outcome of a Pypush iMessage reverse engineering project. Still, Beeper Mini's whole idea was always too good to be true. All of that took place without endangering the conversation's end-to-end encryption safety net.
It provided nearly every feature of a native iMessage experience between iPhones. In the future, Beeper Mini even intended to launch FaceTime audio and video calling. However, it appears that those plans might take some time.