Apple quickly disables Beeper Mini, the new iMessage app for Android

Users required a subscription to use Beeper Mini on Android phones.

Beeper Mini is no longer compatible with iMessage (Image credit: Beeper)

If you have been waiting for the blue bubble messaging on your Android smartphone, then the wait continues as Apple shuts down Beeper Mini, an app that enabled Android users to experience iMessage features, including the blue bubble. While Apple has not shut down the app itself, it has blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials, which renders Beeper Mini unusable.

While the Beeper Mini app is still listed on the Google Play Store, it is no longer able to send or receive iMessages, which costs Rs 190 a month.

According to a report by The Verge, Apple senior PR manager Nadine Haija said:

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.

And…we might have spoken a bit too soon. It's not working for all accounts yet. More work to do, we're going to sleep now but back at it tomorrow.

— Beeper (@onbeeper) December 9, 2023

Beeper built a custom service that exploited a loophole in Apple’s iMessage, allowing the app to connect with Apple’s notification service to intercept and deliver iMessages on an Android device by convincing the Apple server to believe that the message is indeed coming from an iOS device.

Also read | Nothing’s Chat app pulled from Google Play Store owing to privacy concerns

While Beeper claims that the platform is fully secure, encrypted, and does not compromise user privacy. This is the second attempt in recent times that tried to offer iMessage with a blue bubble on Android, the first being Nothing Chat, powered by Sunbird, which was taken down, again, just days after the launch owing to non-encrypted protocol, which compromises user privacy.

This development indicates that iMessage’s blue bubble will not be coming to Android anytime soon. However, Android users should soon be able to enjoy a rich messaging experience, as Apple will soon implement the RCS messaging standard.