Beeper has unveiled Beeper Mini, a new Android app designed to allow messaging between Android and iPhone users. The app, now available for download on Google Play, stands out with its ability to assign a ‘blue bubble’ to Android phone numbers, traditionally associated with iPhone messages.
Who’s behind Beeper Mini? It’s none other than Canadian Eric Migicovsky, the founder of the Pebble smartwatch from a decade ago. According to The Verge, earlier this year the basis for the app was unlocked by a 16-year-old from Pennsylvania who slid into his DMs to say he had reverse engineered Apple’s iMessage.
This ingenius app allows Android users to seamlessly integrate into iPhone-only group chats and enjoy the full spectrum of messaging features like read receipts, high-resolution media sharing, and voice messages, all with the familiar blue bubble interface.
Beeper Mini emphasizes enhanced security and privacy, featuring end-to-end encryption without the need for a Mac relay server or Apple ID. The direct connection to Apple servers ensures that encryption keys remain on the user’s device, preventing external access to Apple accounts.
The app has a modern, clean design, optimized for speed and efficiency, bringing together the best of Android’s Material Design and the iPhone’s messaging aesthetics. Beeper Mini’s goal is to offer a cohesive, cross-platform messaging experience.
Available for a 7-day free trial, Beeper Mini is not free—it costs $1.99 USD per month. This business model, free of advertisements, focuses on providing a high-quality app for users who value privacy and data security.
For existing Beeper users, Beeper Mini complements the Beeper Cloud service. It allows users to register their Android phone number and continue using Beeper as their primary chat application, with the option to manage notifications to avoid duplicates. The app’s code is open source and the developers say anyone can take a look at it (more here on how the app works).
Looking ahead, Beeper Mini plans to incorporate support for 15 different chat networks, including encrypted services like WhatsApp and Signal. This integration will ensure end-to-end encryption, similar to iMessage, enhancing the app’s security and versatility.
Last month, Apple announced it would support RCS for iMessage. But until then, Beeper plans to become a single app that will work across all messaging platforms.
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On one hand, how insecure are android users that they’d jump through hoops or pay money just to avoid the stigma of being shown as a green bubble Android user?
On the other hand, if they’ve done it properly and kept security/privacy intact, this might be a viable way to get cross platform chats without sms/MMS constraints and without the dodgy encryption currently semi-used with Google RCS.
They’ve done it properly this time! It’s directly connecting to Apple’s servers and is based off an open-source reverse engineering of the iMessage protocol by JJTech (the Beeper Mini app itself is closed-source though). The stigma of being seen as a green bubble Android user is sort of real, especially for teens and for adults too to a lesser degree.
Paying money to be able to talk to your iPhone family, relatives, friends, etc. on their preferred app without any friction is something I can see people doing, especially when it’s $3 CAD a month.
Gonna laugh when Apple’s nonsense which clearly isn’t as secure as they’d like it to be is replaced with RCS, lol.
Apple’s refusal to get out of its own way has already brought about USB C on iPhone. RCS to follow, maybe.
lol what? RCS is not even close to a secure platform, let alone superior to iMessage.
RCS…the communications platform with no built in encryption, and now relies on Google’s proprietary encryption that requires all parties to enable it.
Android users have to use what’s available, I guess.
With Apple’s recent announcement of support for RCS, these guys kinda Sherlocked themselves