U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is throwing her weight behind Beeper, the app that allowed Android users to message iPhone users via iMessage, until Apple shut it down. Warren, an advocate of tougher antitrust enforcement, was posted supported Beeper on X (formerly Twitter) and wondered why Apple would restrict a competitor. The publication shows that Apple’s move has now caught the attention of lawmakers, who are in a position to regulate Big Tech through policymaking.
“Texts with a green bubble are less secure. So why would Apple block a new app that allows Android users to chat with iPhone users on iMessage?” Warren’s post read, citing The Verge report noting that Apple had blocked Beeper from working, as TechCrunch also reported. “Big tech executives protect profits by suppressing competitors. Chatting between different platforms should be easy and secure,” he said.
Apple on Friday had taken action against Beeper, a startup that had reversed the iMessage protocol to allow Android users to have blue bubble chats with Apple device owners on iMessage.
Explaining its decision to cut off Beeper’s access to its servers, Apple said it took “steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials to gain access to iMessage.” It also suggested that Beeper’s techniques “posed significant risks to users’ security and privacy, including the potential to expose metadata and enable spam, spam and phishing attacks.”
Additionally, the Cupertino-based tech giant defended Beeper’s security, saying it was unable to verify that messages sent through unauthorized means were able to survive iMessage’s end-to-end encryption offerings.
Beeper, however, claims that it was able to offer the same level of encryption as iMessage, but did not subject its app to a third-party security audit prior to launch, which would have strengthened its case.
Over the weekend, the Beeper team worked to allow their app, Beeper Mini, to continue working. From the most recent one modernize On Sunday, the startup posted that work continues on the shutdown and hopes to “have good news to share soon.”
Founded a few years ago by the founder of the Pebble smartwatch, now CEO of Beeper Eric Migikowski, Beeper had used a technical solution discovered by a teenager that involved reverse engineering the iMessage protocol. Before that, Beeper had developed a broader solution that brings together all users’ chat applications into a single interface – a software solution that has since been renamed Beeper Cloud. So Beeper Mini became an app focused solely on bringing iMessage to Android for $1.99/month, with the intention of expanding its capabilities over time.
But before the Beeper Mini had a chance to get off the ground, Apple shut it down. It’s unclear what, if anything, the future Beeper Mini might have now that Apple has figured out how to recognize Beeper users.
