U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is fully supporting Locator, the app that allowed Android users to message iPhone users via iMessage, until Apple shut it down. Warren, an advocate for stricter antitrust enforcement, aware his support for Beeper on X (formerly Twitter) and questioned why Apple would restrict a competitor. The publication indicates that Apple's move has now caught the attention of lawmakers, who are in a position to regulate Big tech through policymaking.
“Green bubble texts are less secure. “So why would Apple block a new app that allows Android users to chat with iPhone users in iMessage?” Warren's post said, citing The Verge report pointing out that Apple had blocked Beeper from working, as also reported by TechCrunch. “Big tech executives are protecting their profits by crushing their competitors. Chatting between different platforms should be easy and secure,” he stated.
On Friday, Apple took action against Beeper, a startup that had reverse engineered the iMessage protocol to allow Android users to have blue bubble conversations with Apple device owners in iMessage.
Explaining its decision to cut off Beeper's access to its servers, Apple said it took “steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials to gain access to iMessage.” It also suggested that Beeper's techniques “posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including potentially exposing metadata and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks.”
Additionally, the Cupertino-based tech giant argued against Beeper's security, saying it was unable to verify that messages sent through unauthorized means could maintain the end-to-end encryption that iMessage offers.
Beeper, however, claims that it was able to offer the same level of encryption that iMessage uses, but it did not subject its app to a third-party security audit before its release, which would have strengthened its argument.
Over the weekend, the Beeper team has been working to allow their app, Beeper Mini, to continue working. As of your most recent update On Sunday, the startup posted that work continues on the outage and hopes to “have good news to share soon.”
Founded a few years ago by the founder of the Pebble smartwatch, now CEO of Beeper Eric Migicovsky, Beeper had employed a technical solution discovered by a teenager that involved reverse engineering the iMessage protocol. Prior to this, Beeper had been developing a broader solution that aggregated all of users' chat applications into a single interface – a software solution that has since been renamed Beeper Cloud. Beeper Mini, then, became an app that focused solely on bringing iMessage to Android for $1.99 per month, with the intention of expanding its capabilities over time.
But before the Beeper Mini had a chance to take off, Apple put it out of commission. It's unclear what future Beeper Mini may have now, if any, given that Apple has figured out how to identify Beeper users.
