Last week we heard about a whole new way for Android users to access Apple iMessage in the form of the Beeper Mini app. Apple then immediately shut down the loophole that Beeper Mini was using, rendering the app more or less useless; Beeper Mini promised to bring back the service, but we didn't expect that to happen so soon.

Previously, Beeper Mini tricked iMessage into thinking that Android users were actually using an Apple device and spoofed a legitimate Apple hardware key to access it. It was associated with your phone number, registered on Apple's servers (without Apple's permission), and did not require an Apple ID. The new version is the exact opposite of this.

Now, Beeper Mini requires you to log in with a real Apple ID and ties all messages to that email address, not your phone number. The developer claims that a fix is in the works to provide phone number integration again, but it is unclear when it will be rolled out.

Apple was very quick to shut down Beeper Mini, releasing a statement claiming that it "has taken steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials to access iMessage." It added that "these techniques posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential to expose metadata and enable unsolicited messages, spam, and phishing attacks."

The logic is understandable, since Apple has no control over what Beeper Mini does and has no idea what security risks are hidden in its system. This is especially important in light of the accusations against the Sunbird app, which also offered Nothing Chat; Sunbird allegedly did not encrypt its messages and kept copies of all of them, making them publicly accessible.

Of course, iMessage is one of the things Apple uses to encourage people to buy iPhones. Documents and testimony from the lawsuit filed by Epic Games against Apple revealed that iMessage could have been included in Android, but Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, said that people might be discouraged from buying an iPhone The idea was dismissed by Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, on the grounds that it might discourage people from buying iPhones.

Tim Cook also dismissed the idea of adopting RCS some time ago when a reporter asked him about improving communication with Android users' mothers. His response was that the reporter should "buy his mother an iPhone."

Beeper Mini boasts of its success as "the fastest growing paid Android application in history" with over 100,000 downloads. The team uses this as evidence that Android and iPhone users "really want to chat together. At the very least, Android users want to chat with iPhone users without SMS text messaging.

Apple will begin supporting RCS messaging within the next year, but claimed that it will work on enhancing the security features of the protocol before implementing it in the Apple ecosystem. Perhaps we will hear more about it during WWDC 2024 and I expect this to be rolled out as part of iOS 18 at the latest.

In the meantime, Apple promises to "continue to update it to protect our users." I understand this to mean that Apple will close backdoors and loopholes that allow iMessage access to third-party devices. Because of this instability, the developers of Beeper Mini intend to suspend paid subscriptions and make the app free. At least until "the situation stabilizes."