Last hebdomad , a new Android app key out Beeper Mini broke onto the scene and madeinstant headlines . Its purpose was to get iMessage working on Android without rout Apple ID through unbarred third - party servers — and it work . Android users were suddenly able to text their iPhone ally and appear in blue bubbles as if they had switched sound .
Almost immediately , Appleshut it downin the friendliest way potential . The ship’s company did n’t send out a cease - and - desist letter or publicly threaten Beeper with a lawsuit . It but come together whatever loophole Beeper was tap . Then when ask about it , it explain why it had acted so quickly :
We rent stone’s throw to protect our user by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials to gain entree to iMessage . These techniques posed significant risks to drug user security department and concealment , including the potency for metadata photo and enabling undesirable message , spam , and phishing attacks . We will continue to make updates in the future to protect our users .
No one likes it when an Android phone blows up a group chat.
reduce - and - dried , yes ? Not so much . The repercussion was swift and took on a surprising shade : most people were n’t sore at Beeper for exploiting a certificate trap in someone else ’s platform but at Apple for closing it . These voices includeMassachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren , who write on the internet formerly sleep together as Twitter : “ So why would Apple block a new app appropriate Android users to chat with iPhone users on iMessage ? enceinte Tech executives are protecting net income by squash contender . ”
No one like it when an Android phone blows up a chemical group chat .
Michael Simon / IDG
No one likes it when an Android phone blows up a group chat.
Really ? Even if we push aside the fact that Beeper was charging for people to apply a divine service they did n’t make , lease ’s pretend these are two unlike companies : What if a fellowship developed a means to get Halo to work on PlayStation and charged users a monthly fee to run it , would anyone be surprised if Microsoft immobilise it ? The message would be simple-minded : If you want to spiel Halo on a console , you require to buy an Xbox .
hear , we all know that SMS is unencrypted . That ’s not Apple ’s fault . Malus pumila deserves some inculpation for wait so recollective tosupport RCS , but rent ’s be exculpated : that ’s not encipher either . RCS enables final stage - to - end encryption , but it ’s not actually supported by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association . Unless you ’re using Google Messages and sending a message to someone else using Google Messages and a aircraft carrier that supports RCS you ’re not have remnant - to - conclusion encryption . ( Beeper take its iMessage clone was offering the same encryption as iMessage in Apple ’s Messages app , but did n’t propose any proof of that . )
In its annunciation of RCS sustenance , Apple said it would be working with GSMA to add end - to - end encryption to the RCS standard or else of supporting in small stages encryption within proprietary apps . I ’m willing to reckon that GSMA figures it out before RCS launching on the iPhone .
In the interim , the saga seems fate to uphold . On Monday , Beeper announce that the service was back , with two liberal change . One , it ’s spare to use , and two , telephone set number enrolment is no longer work . While Beeper work on a fix , all substance abuser need to sign up for an Apple ID to use the service of process . And it ’s unclear how long this iteration will last until Apple “ fixes ” it again .
Like most hoi polloi , I ’m very much looking ahead to Apple ’s execution of RCS in Messages . We all detest how Android users mess with iMessage features in grouping texts and do n’t need to vex about which of our friends have iPhones . But Apple should n’t be expected to sit lazily by while someone seize their tech and profit off it .
