Just weeks after Nothing Chats and Sunbird’s attempts to bring iMessage to Android ended due to privacy issues, an app called Beeper Mini claims to have been able to bring Apple’s messaging service to Android using “reverse engineering”.
Eric Migicovsky, co-founder of Beeper, previously famous for Pebble, told Engadget that his latest project is to expand its service. The original Beeper app relied on a fabric of Mac mini servers to act as relays, leaving many potential users on the waiting list. Beeper Mini, on the other hand, uses the official iMessage protocol directly, thanks to reverse engineering. The texts are even sent to Apple’s servers before traveling to their final destination, just like a real iMessage created by an iPhone. Even weirder, this was all developed by a 16-year-old high school student.
The app examines all your text message conversations and flags those from iMessage users. The system then turns these into blue bubble conversations via Apple’s official platform. You also don’t need an Apple ID to log in, eliminating many of the security concerns that plague rival apps.
It is worth repeating; The platform does not modify the iMessage experience to work on Android. It offers an iMessage experience that works on Android by sending real iMessages. As a bonus, Beeper actually encrypts messages between iMessage and Android users end-to-end, making communications even more secure.
Beeper has been extremely transparent, and the company understands that it’s on a tight spot regarding how Apple will react. Apple has never been friendly to those it sees as violating company secrets, but it has announced upcoming support for the RCS messaging standard. This will allow greater interoperability between Android and iOS devices, so perhaps it could allow the Beeper Mini to be used for now. According to Migicovsky’s statement to Engadget, if Apple wants to block the Beeper Mini, a lot of work will need to be done to completely revamp the iMessage protocol.
Beeper’s iMessage code will be open source to avoid any security or privacy vulnerabilities. As for potential legal hurdles, the co-founder says his company is on the right side of the law, noting that there’s no real Apple code in the Beeper Mini, just custom recreated code. He also cites legal precedent in copyright law that favors those who reverse engineer code. In any case, Beeper Mini is available for now, with a one-month free trial and a $1.99 monthly subscription fee.
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