Beeper revives iMessage for Android with potential tweaks

Updated Beeper Mini costs nothing for now, while it required a $2-per-month subscription earlier

Kate Mills - Dec 12, 2023

An undated image shows the chatbox interface of a user on iMessage. — Applesupport

Following Apple’s attempt at removing Beeper Mini from sending and receiving iMessages on Android, Beeper has claimed that the app is back again.

How to use Beeper Mini

Since Beeper Mini now works a bit differently this time, you first need to sign in with an Apple ID. However, previously, your iMessage account could be registered automatically to iMessage via phone number.

Major changes in updated Beeper Mini

Among the potential improvements introduced with the updated version of the Beeper Mini, a significant change is that the service will cost nothing for now.

Earlier, the app required a $2-per-month subscription. Apple on Friday asserted that it won’t hesitate to shut down further attempts to make its servers take Android phones as genuine Apple devices.

The company has claimed that it’s working on a fix to restore phone number registration with iMessage, but until then, your friends won’t be able to send iMessages directly to your phone number.

Instead, the blue bubbles will have to come to and from your email address. That’s not nearly as convenient, but at the end of the day, it’s still iMessage.

The Apple vs Beeper Mini battle

Beeper also addressed Apple’s initial statement that it (Beeper Mini), functioning on reversed engineering of the iMessage protocol, comes with potential privacy and security risks.

“We deeply object to the allegation,” the company wrote, and it’s willing to share Beeper Mini’s entire codebase “with a mutually agreed upon third-party security research firm” to inspect the app for any bugs.

Of course, that isn’t really Apple’s problem: iMessage is a service Apple operates, and it’s a key lock-in mechanism and value add for iPhones and the company’s other hardware. Beeper’s security isn’t Apple’s concern, but iMessage’s very much is.

Given that, Apple’s effort to block Beeper Mini has proven to beckon US politicians and provoked calls for the company to release an official, authorised iMessage app for Android.