Why Apple Keeps Exclusive Control Over iMessage with iOS Devices

UPDATE: 2023/12/11 12:55 EST BY CORBIN DAVENPORT

Beeper Mini is back (for now)

Beeper Mini has released an updated version that reportedly allows messages to be sent again, which is rolling out on the Google Play Store. However, phone registration is stil broken, and it’s not clear how long the service will last until Apple breaks it again. Beeper Minis also now free to use, as the developers are “not comfortable subjecting paying users to this.”

There are several reasons why Apple keeps iMessage closed down (to the point it resisted adding RCS to its smartphones until the pressure was too high), the main one being that it serves to hook people into the iPhone ecosystem, at least in the United States. Android users have, for years, attempted to circumvent Apple’s unwillingness to make iMessage multi-platform, but perhaps the most outstanding effort was Beeper Mini. If you wanted to give it a spin, though, it’s too bad, because the app might be good as dead.

Apple has just confirmed that it shut down Beeper Mini’s methods to connect to the company’s servers to provide iMessage to Android users. In a statement, the company said the following:

At Apple, we build our products and services with industry-leading privacy and security technologies designed to give users control of their data and keep personal information safe. We took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage. These techniques posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata exposure and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks. We will continue to make updates in the future to protect our users.

The stance outlined here is not surprising at all. While other efforts to bring iMessage to Android involved having an actual Apple device (such as a Mac computer) act as a middleman, Beeper Mini managed to connect to Apple’s servers directly and make them think that you’re using an Apple device, thus working flawlessly with no intermediary and no strings attached.

Bepper Mini was probably always going to be shut down by Apple, although the fact that only a few days went by was surprising. With this statement, however, Apple just confirmed that it will keep the game of cat and mouse going—whether Beeper Mini or other potential competitors that may arise want to play it is a different thing.

For now, if you want to use iMessage reliably, the solution will still need an actual Apple device. There’s no way around it, unless you go with self-hosted options that require a Mac to act as a bridge, such as BlueBubbles .

Source: The Verge

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