Apple Blocks 'Beeper Mini', Citing Security Concerns. But Beeper Keeps Trying

A 16-year-old high school student reverse engineered Apple's messaging protocol, leading to the launch of an interoperable Android app called 'Beeper Mini'.

But on Friday the Verge reported that 'less than a week after its launch, the app started experiencing technical issues when users were suddenly unable to send and receive blue bubble messages.'

Reached for comment, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky did not deny that Apple has successfully blocked Beeper Mini. '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 stop a service that enables their own users to now send encrypted messages to Android users, rather than using unsecure SMS...? Beeper Mini is here today and works great. Why force iPhone users back to sending unencrypted SMS when they chat with friends on Android?'

Apple says they're unable to verify that end-to-end encryption is maintained when messages are sent through unauthorized channels, according to a statement quoted by TechCrunch:

'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.'
Beeper responded on X:

We stand behind what we've built. Beeper Mini is keeps your messages private, and boosts security compared to unencrypted SMS. For anyone who claims otherwise, we'd be happy to give our entire source code to mutually agreed upon third party to evaluate the security of our app.

Ars Technica adds:
On Saturday, Migicovsky notified Beeper Cloud (desktop) users that iMessage was working again for them, after a long night of fixes. 'Work continues on Beeper Mini,' Migicovsky wrote shortly after noon Eastern time.

Engadget notes:
The Beeper Mini team has apparently been working around the clock to resolve the outage affecting the new 'iMessage on Android' app, and says a fix is 'very close.' And once the fix rolls out, users' seven-day free trials will be reset so they can start over fresh.


Meanwhile, at around 9 p.m. EST, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky posted on X that 'For 3 blissful days this week, iPhone and Android users enjoyed high quality encrypted chats. We're working hard to return to that state.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.