2y ago

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android

techcrunch.com

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android | TechCrunch

Apple @lemmy.world

EliasChao @lemmy.one

2y ago

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini’s access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android

techcrunch.com /2023/12/08/apple-cuts-off-beeper-minis-access-after-launch-of-service-that-brought-imessage-to-android/

Hacker News @derp.foo

haxor @derp.foo

BOT

2y ago

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

techcrunch.com /2023/12/08/apple-cuts-off-beeper-minis-access-after-launch-of-service-that-brought-imessage-to-android/

36 comments

I am Jack's COMPLETE lack of surprise.
- Right? I tried it out with a friend of mine that has an Apple device, I have Android, and we were joking about Apple shutting it down within a few days. Lo and behold it took only 3 days.
- I think I need a macro for that.
This was predicted on the post about Beeper
- I'm just curious as to what Beeper's response will be.
  
  Something something monopoly, something something gatekeepers. They don’t need a war chest big enough to sue Apple, they just need to convince the EU to do it. I’m sure they saw this coming from the start.
Fucking apple and it's greedy service.
- At this point it's not even just that, it's actually very petty and childish.
I'd like to see a game of cat and mouse until Apple fucks up and breaks their own imessage app
- If Bleeper were opensource, I imagine there'd be more contributors willing to reverse engineer iMessage.
  
  https://github.com/mautrix/imessage https://github.com/beeper/barcelona these are the core processes used to connect to the iMessage service
  
  I thought it was. What a missed opportunity.
With the original Beeper app you made an Apple ID through Apples website to use for setting up iMessage. This does require folks having the email in order to use iMessage, so definetly worth setting up an alias. It still works, while Beeper Mini doesn't apparently.
- It still works
  Yes and allowing beeper to MaInTheMiddle your messages does not present any security issues at all.
  
  Their Matrix bridge is open source, and (at least they claim) everything is E2E encrypted. I love Beeper, and as unstable of a service as it is, it's still really great and I fully trust it with my messages. Waited 2 years for this service and I'm gonna use it lol.
As they should.
- Why? As the article states this actually lessens security for everyone (including iPhone users).
  
  Imagine that! The founder of the company that was denied access to Apple for creating an app that essentially copped an app that is part of their proprietary OS, says it would have increased their security!
  Well gosh!!!! let them in then!
🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: ::: spoiler Click here to see the summary Beeper, the startup that reverse-engineered iMessage to bring blue bubble texts to Android users, is experiencing an outage, the company reported via a post on X on Friday.
Asked if possibly Apple found a way to cut off Beeper Mini’s ability to function, he replied, “Yes, all data indicates that.”
Migicovsky, who previously founded the smartwatch Pebble, has argued that Beeper Mini wasn’t just beneficial for Android users who wanted to finally join their iMessage friends’ group chats, but that it increased security for iPhone users, too.
In an interview ahead of Beeper Mini’s launch, the founder explained that green bubble texts were unencrypted.
Why force iPhone users back to sending unencrypted SMS when they chat with friends on Android?,” he asked.
Because the startup was no longer using a middleman — like a Mac server relaying messages, as other iMessage-to-Android apps employ — it would essentially appear to Apple’s servers that Beeper Mini’s messages were coming from a device that runs iMessage natively.
Saved 75% of original text. :::
- He knows the answer. It's a rhetorical question, meant to piss off iPhone users.

36 comments