Beeper Mini is the iMessage for Android app we’ve been waiting for - Mishaal Rahman
Beeper Mini is the iMessage for Android app we’ve been waiting for - Mishaal Rahman
Beeper Mini is a new app that brings iMessage to Android. When you text your friends with iPhones, you'll show up as a blue bubble.
Personally I don't care about this since apple is adopting rcs next year. But its a great thing for people who want iMessage.
It looks like Beeper has purchased the software from the person who developed this, but his GitHub repo for it is still up.
He has also created a way to permanently side load apps on iPhone without jailbreaking. I imagine Apple will be working on both of these "problems".
iMessage reverse engineering hack that was purchased by Beeper: https://github.com/JJTech0130/pypush
iPhone side loading: https://github.com/SideStore
Definitely going to look into this when I have the time. If it's not using your Apple ID for authentication (like the article says), what's to stop anyone from spoofing anyone else's phone number?
The pypush readme doesn't have a lot of details so I guess I'll just need to try it to see.
Edit: Looks like he's distributing "a framework from an old version of macOS, in order to call some obfuscated functions", which the script pulls from his GitHub. This is likely a copyright violation. If Beeper Mini is doing the same thing, I'd expect them to get sued into oblivion the second Apple takes notice.
It's not clear which version of macOS he pulled this from. There's always the risk that Apple will simply axe support for it. I don't recall them breaking support for older OSes with iMessage in the past but I haven't followed that closely so I'm not sure.
Update:
Just ran it on my desktop. It immediately prompts for a username and password, presumably for an Apple ID. I didn't continue because I don't want to use my real Apple ID. The article says Beeper Mini doesn't need an Apple ID at any point. After a little searching, it looks like iPhones actually don't need an Apple ID to use iMessage. I was not aware of that. So I guess Beeper is not using the exact same mechanism as pypush.
Beeper has been working in this space for awhile - there's no way they would publish an app with a copyright violation. I assume they have a workaround for that aspect.
a text message for verification from Apple confirms ownership
I think it's awesome that they paid the dev. More companies should do that for open source projects
Eh, imessage isn't worth paying a subscription for. Not a monthly one for sure. Like, I'm glad people have the option now, but I just don't see the benefit being high enough to warrant a subscription.
tbh, I don't like where this new product seems to be taking Beeper. I was a giant fan of Beeper because they were a huge contributor to the matrix project. But with them creating an entirely new app that doesn't rely on matrix at all, it looks like they may be looking to pivot away and create their own client-side implementations rather than use matrix bridges. It would be sad to lose a contributor to the matrix space.
In the future, we are planning to add Matrix network support back in, along with support for the 15 other chat networks in Beeper Cloud. Read more about our roadmap.
from the beepers own post instead of this reblog
Beeper Mini is also unfortunately closed source
Yes. Hopefully they'll continue to maintain the mautrix bridges they already have.
Also it's sad to see Beeper misusing the term open source for the source available SSPL [1]. Beeper is free not to use an open source license. But an open source "license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor" [2], so it's misleading to call their demo [3] open source.
I do believe supporting the different messaging services client side could be a better experience than relying on a server to translate between different protocols.
[1] https://blog.opensource.org/the-sspl-is-not-an-open-source-license/
Downloaded out of curiosity but my Micro-G based ROM isn't supported.
How come? Does it require Google Play?
It uses FCM for the notifications.
Beeper website states:
We don't support DeGoogle devices or Custom ROMs without up-to-date Google services.) You simply can't set up the app.
Stock pixel is giving me error.null when trying to sign in, I think the release is just bugged
But why the obsession with iMessage and apple product?!? Cannot every people at least send a SMS to others and that's it? We don't care about the colour of the bubble!!!!
I just want better upload limits which RCS gives us. So personally, I'm indifferent.
Upset about getting curved by the only Tinder match they'd had in months after she saw their green bubble
It basically copies the best of every other messaging platform. I was at my in-laws where everyone on my wife's side has an iPhone and we're talking about a LOT of the features.
- can tell if notifications are turned off on phone
- read receipts
- higher quality limit on video/pictures sent
- messaging that can be done in wifi-only areas (imagine having a few group threads/people you CANT talk to while at home because you live in a dead zone)
Any other big feature of any other messaging app I was able to think of (Signal/Whatsapp, discord, slack) is all there (except public chatrooms and private servers obvs), WITH OS integration
I still like my pixel, but I get it now.
Still holding out hope that Google allows for RCS features to come to Google voice.
Yeah, I'm using Google RCS Message too, let's hope Apple will integrate all the RCS features too
It's not about the color, sms is an ancient and limited piece of tech
yes, we need E2E encryption, at least
People care about the color of the bubble, even if you don't. A LOT of place's don't regularly use SMS.
You don't. All the teens in the US do.
Am I out of touch? No, it's the teens who are wrong !
If it's that Beeper then it's not just about imessage, but facebook messenger, whatsapp, instagram, telegram, viber and a few others too. Beeper supports all that, by using Matrix bridges.
No, its a new app! They built specifically for iMessage only. Learn more here: https://blog.beeper.com/p/introducing-beeper-mini-get-blue
Interesting. I just checked and found the information. It sounds like they want to rebuild the whole app and just add one service at a time. They are starting with just iMessage.
https://www.beeper.com/faq#what-is-beeper
Edit: I wonder how long this will last. They aren't using a Mac to log you into your iCloud account with this. They have found a workaround.
"This is now possible because the iMessage protocol and encryption have been reverse engineered by jjtech, a security researcher."
Edit 2: I'm really curious about this. The researcher has some Python that can run anywhere and let you send iMessages. It seems like something the Apple would shutdown, but, on the other hand, I wouldn't expect Beeper to introduce an app that might get disabled.
I'm confused about this article because I have Beeper, but they make this statement:
"Beeper Mini is a new app from the folks behind Beeper, a unified chatting and inbox app that brings together the best chat apps under one roof."
I haven't heard about a mini version.