Final week, a brand new Android app named Beeper Mini broke onto the scene and made on the spot headlines. Its intention was to get iMessage engaged on Android with out routing Apple IDs via unsecured third-party servers—and it labored. Android customers have been abruptly capable of textual content their iPhone mates and seem in blue bubbles as if they’d switched telephones.
Virtually instantly, Apple shut it down within the friendliest method potential. The corporate didn’t ship out a cease-and-desist letter or publicly threaten Beeper with a lawsuit. It merely closed no matter loophole Beeper was exploiting. Then when requested about it, it defined why it had acted so shortly:
We took steps to guard our customers by blocking strategies that exploit pretend credentials so as to acquire entry to iMessage. These strategies posed vital dangers to consumer safety and privateness, together with the potential for metadata publicity and enabling undesirable messages, spam, and phishing assaults. We’ll proceed to make updates sooner or later to guard our customers.
Lower-and-dried, sure? Not a lot. The backlash was swift and took on a stunning tone: most individuals weren’t mad at Beeper for exploiting a safety gap in another person’s platform however at Apple for closing it. These voices embody Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who wrote on the community previously often called Twitter: “So why would Apple block a brand new app permitting Android customers to talk with iPhone customers on iMessage? Large Tech executives are defending income by squashing opponents.”
Nobody likes it when an Android cellphone blows up a bunch chat.
Michael Simon/IDG
Actually? Even when we ignore the truth that Beeper was charging for folks to make use of a service they didn’t make, let’s faux these are two completely different corporations: What if an organization developed a approach to get Halo to work on PlayStation and charged customers a month-to-month payment to play it, would anybody be stunned if Microsoft blocked it? The message can be easy: If you wish to play Halo on a console, it’s good to purchase an Xbox.
Pay attention, everyone knows that SMS is unencrypted. That’s not Apple’s fault. Apple deserves some blame for ready so lengthy to assist RCS, however let’s be clear: that’s not encrypted both. RCS permits end-to-end encryption, however it’s not truly supported by the World System for Cell Communications Affiliation. Except you’re utilizing Google Messages and sending a message to another person utilizing Google Messages and a service that helps RCS you’re not getting end-to-end encryption. (Beeper claims its iMessage knockoff was providing the identical encryption as iMessage in Apple’s Messages app, however didn’t provide any proof of that.)
In its announcement of RCS assist, Apple mentioned it will be working with GSMA to convey end-to-end encryption to the RCS commonplace as a substitute of supporting piecemeal encryption inside proprietary apps. I’m prepared to wager that GSMA figures it out earlier than RCS launches on the iPhone.
Within the meantime, the saga appears destined to proceed. On Monday, Beeper introduced that the service was again, with two large adjustments. One, it’s free to make use of, and two, cellphone quantity registration is not working. Whereas Beeper works on a repair, all customers want to join an Apple ID to make use of the service. And it’s unclear how lengthy this iteration will final till Apple “fixes” it once more.
Like most individuals, I’m very a lot trying ahead to Apple’s implementation of RCS in Messages. All of us hate how Android customers mess with iMessage options in group texts and don’t need to fear about which of our mates have iPhones. However Apple shouldn’t be anticipated to sit down idly by whereas somebody usurps their tech and income off it.
