It appears that Beeper Mini, the iMessage work-around for Android devices, has gone offline for the second time in a week. Apparently, this new wave of connectivity problems has affected about 5% of users, and Beeper Mini itself is quick to lay the blame on Apple.

The app claims that Apple is "intentionally blocking iMessage delivery," and the Beeper X account also complains that Apple is trying to block the service and that "Apple is penalizing their customers and Android users who want secure, encrypted chats and It's super annoying that they are penalizing Android users who want to have secure and encrypted chats." He added, "If you choose to uninstall Beeper Mini at this time, we understand."

But let's be honest. This is not a big surprise; Apple already blocked the first loophole that Beeper Mini used to access iMessage, and it was only a matter of time before the current workaround was targeted as well. However, it is surprising that the problem has only affected a handful of users, rather than Beeper Mini as a whole.

Needless to say, the service is primarily aimed at Android users, and Apple has a long history of trying to pretend that Android users don't exist. So Apple's comment about penalizing its own customers doesn't make much sense.

It is true that Apple has in the past effectively disabled communication between platforms by reverting SMS and MMS to default when communicating with non-Apple devices. Both of these systems are technologically outdated and have problems and limitations that do not make the user experience ideal. These include character limits, file size limits, lack of encryption, etc.

However, this criticism has been directed at Apple for years and may finally be resolved with the adoption of the RCS in 2024. The current system is still in use and looks rather bad for Apple, but at least we know it is coming to an end.

Apple also claims that apps that try to reverse engineer their way into iMessage are a threat to user security and privacy, although Beeper Mini denies this and claims it actually improves security, After the allegations leveled against Songbird and Nothing Chats, it is clear that these kinds of claims should not be taken at face value.

Beeper Mini claims that it will continue working to make its Android app available for iMessage again, with particular emphasis on restoring phone number support.

In the meantime, if you are concerned about the state of communications between platforms, you can always try to convince a friend with your iPhone to sign up for one of the best encrypted messaging apps. As you know, they've been around for quite some time and are generally not associated with controversy.