Beeper App That Created Workaround for iMessage on Android Acquired by WordPress Owner Automattic

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Automattic, the company behind popular web management system WordPress, has purchased Beeper and will absorb Beeper's 27 employees. Beeper made headlines back in December for Beeper Mini, an app that brought iMessage to Android devices.

beeper automattic acquisition
Beeper Mini used reverse engineered iMessage protocols and encryption, taking advantage of Apple's own iMessage servers to let Android users send "blue bubble" texts to iPhone users without an Apple ID. The app supported all iMessage functionality, including read receipts, typing indictors, reactions, and end-to-end encryption.

Apple was not happy with Beeper Mini using its iMessage servers, and it blocked the Beeper Mini app. Beeper tried workarounds, but after suggesting Android users acquire a jailbroken ‌iPhone‌ to get the service to work, the company gave up on the idea.

After Apple blocked Beeper Mini from working, both the FTC and the U.S. Department of Justice met with Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky. Beeper Mini was ultimately mentioned in the DoJ's antitrust filing against Apple, with the DoJ suggesting it was a "fix" for the broken Android to ‌iPhone‌ cross-platform messaging issue.

Automattic does not plan to revive Beeper Mini, but is instead taking on Beeper, a universal chat app available for Android, iOS, and desktop devices. Beeper is able to integrate with multiple chat networks with a universal inbox, though it does not currently work with iMessage.

In a post announcing the acquisition by Automattic, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky said that Beeper is "cautiously optimistic about the future" because the DoJ has "sued Apple for blocking Beeper Mini's access to iMessage."

Going forward, Migicovsky will serve as Automattic's Head of Messaging, and Beeper will operate as an independent team. With the acquisition, Beeper is no longer in beta and has officially launched.

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Top Rated Comments

antiprotest Avatar
antiprotest
24 months ago
I don't need this because all my friends are on MacRumors and we just use PMs on here.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BC2009 Avatar
BC2009
24 months ago
Beeper was not a competing messaging service. It was a messaging client using somebody else’s backend services without permission by exploiting a security hole. Their inclusion in the DOJ lawsuit makes the DOJ look stupid — especially Merrick Garland.

It would be like aggregating the Google drive storage of many free accounts with dummy email addresses and front-ending that with a cloud storage client and selling it as my own cloud storage service that offered a ton of storage for a small fee while freeloading on Google servers. Oh, and then complaining when Google found a way to identify my dummy email addresses and then shut me down.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
loopy123 Avatar
loopy123
24 months ago
I am just shocked that Beeper has 27 employees. It seemed like a garage operation by a couple of guys.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
CarAnalogy
24 months ago

Beeper mini aside, well, just like Netflix, one company tried to unite an industry but end up finding more companies popping up wanting to take a piece of the pie of their own. Today’s message apps are like cable TV and beeper is like Netflix back in the day.

Will this work? I don’t know and I can only let time to tell.
Beeper is more like using stolen phone service that the person you got it from insists is his right to use and redistribute, despite the fact that the phone company owns and operates all the infrastructure.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kevcube Avatar
kevcube
24 months ago
so they're trying to make a competitor in the fully saturated messaging space... good luck Eric. You've already found your exit once.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarAnalogy Avatar
CarAnalogy
24 months ago

And how well did that work out for the Bell System?

Oh yeah. They didn't get to tell anybody what they could plug into phone jacks any more, and they got broken up.

Apple should rethink what they're doing.
And you're saying iMessage is as powerful a monopoly as the company that literally owned every telephone line in the country? And that Apple is as restrictive as AT&T was pre-Carterfone? I don't think it's an analogous situation. But there are plenty of other analogies for Beeper's theft of service. There's even a term for it, theft of service!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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