Beeper’s ambitious attempt to offer aniMessage client for Androidwas met withpredictable resistancefrom Apple. However, the makers of Beeper did just enough to get things working again (afterovercoming a couple of hurdles), albeit with somecomplex solutions. Apple came upon an aggressive solution to Beeper’s tweak andbanned some usersfrom accessing iMessage. While Apple has since reversed the ban, this whole ordeal has led Beeper to call off its iMessage efforts.
The service’s X (Twitter) account detailed some of the developments that were seemingly set into motion after the December 21 update, which allowed users to set up an iMessage connection using a spare Mac or iPhone. Beeper’s investigation later found that all 30 reports they got on this banning incident were from Mac users.
The unbanning of Macs appeared to have occurred following a report byThe New York Times. Apple reportedly flagged these Macs asspam, while the banned computers were unable to access even the macOS Messages app. Thankfully, Apple IDs were unaffected, meaning iMessage continued to operate as usual on other devices like the iPhone and iPad. The Beeper teamnotesthat they emailed Apple directly about the banning episode, but didn’t hear back from the company. It was then that they approached a NYT reporter with experience covering Beeper, who in turn, got in touch with Apple. The bans were lifted around two days later, per Beeper.
Meanwhile, customers with Macs that haven’t been unbanned yet are recommended to reach out to Apple Support or get in touch with Beeper using theReport a problemoption on the app. But the bad news here is that the service is fully shutting down the ability to create new iMessage connections with Beeper Cloud. Beeper is also letting users know how to delete the iMessage connection from its desktop app.
So this pretty much means that Beeper is officially giving up, though the writing was pretty much on the wall based on the company’sblog postover a month ago. Not to forget the removal of theBeeper Mini app from the Google Play Storethat followed weeks later. The service plans to move on from this incident by supporting other messaging apps through its platform. We found that theBeeper websitestill mentions iMessage in the list of 15 supported messaging apps, though we don’t expect that to stay up for too long.
On a related note, Apple will support RCS messaging on iMessage this year, thanks largely toregulatory pressurefrom the European Union, althoughthe green bubbles aren’t going anywhere. Similarly, the company is also making other changes in the EU, such as opening up its App Store. However, the company’s fee structure for this new app distribution system has come under significant fire, with streaming giant Spotify deeming this ‘extortion’ (viaThe Verge).
