The iMessage on Android solution everyone onthe wrong side of a green bubblehas been waiting for finally made its debut this week, and just three days later, the service is experiencing a massive and potentially permanent outage.Beeper Miniis a subscription service that we have been thoroughly impressed with, save for one caveat: the question of what Apple will do now that someone else is profiting off its exclusive messaging service while simultaneously whittling away at that same exclusivity. Early reports suggest today’s outage is indeed a result of Apple cutting off Beeper’s access.
A Reddit post by Beeper staff memberjisforjoeacknowledged the issue (viaMishaal Rahman on X), which started at around 3:30 p.m. ET, but a bombshell was just dropped by Beeper co-founder Eric Migicovsky in a statement toTechCrunch. When asked if the outage is the result of Apple finding a way to block Beeper’s access to its service, Migicovsky responded, “Yes, all data indicates that.”
The CEO added, “If it’s Apple, then I think the biggest question is — if Apple truly cares about the privacy and security of their own iPhone users, why would they try to kill a service that enables iPhones to send encrypted chats to Android users?" Many have speculated over the years that Apple is primarily motivated by ecosystem lock-in with its iMessage efforts, betting that iPhone users won’t jump ship to an Android alternative if doing so would mean losing access to its messenger.
What iPhone getting RCS means for Android
We’ll still be in green bubbles, but our pictures shouldn’t be blurry anymore
To its credit, Apple just recently announced that it will beadding RCS support to its Messages app in 2024. For years, Android phones have supported the updated standard meant to serve as a replacement for SMS and MMS, and with iPhones joining the fray, cross-platform texting stands to gain features like encryption, read receipts, and message reactions in the coming months.
If this is the end of Beeper Mini, questions still remain about potential refunds for subscriptions and issues with undelivered messages, but it’s likely Beeper will want to ensure it can’t find a fix or workaround before it throws in the towel. And, of course, the Beeper Cloud app that can serve as a centralized hub for messengers like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram is still very much alive. We’re still monitoring the situation with Beeper Mini, so we will be sure to update this page if any new information emerges.
