Was it too good to be true? Beeper, the startup that reverse-engineered iMessage to ship blue bubble texts to Android customers, suffers an outage, firm It was reported via a post on X on Friday. It seems that Apple is accountable. Customers, together with these of us at TechCrunch with entry to the app, began seeing error messages when attempting to ship textual content messages through the newly launched Beeper Mini and the messages weren’t being despatched.
The error message says: “Search failed on server: Search request timed out” written in crimson letters.
![](https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/beeeper-mini-error.jpg?w=680)
Picture credit: Screenshot of Beeper Mini error
In response to a query on Reddit about whether or not the app was down or not, a Beeper group member beforehand responded: “Report an issue with the app, give us an opportunity to look into it.”
Nonetheless, Beeper CEO Eric Migicowski responded to TechCrunch’s inquiry concerning the standing of the Beeper Mini by directing us to Post X that acknowledges the interruption, and supply extra particulars. When requested if Apple had discovered a approach to reduce off the Beeper Mini’s means to perform, he replied: “Sure, all the info factors to that.”
We do not know what this implies for the way forward for the Beeper Mini effort, until Beeper engineers can one way or the other remedy the issue.
Migicowski, who beforehand based the Pebble smartwatch, argued that the Beeper Mini was not solely helpful for Android customers who needed to lastly be a part of their pals’ group chats in iMessage, but it surely elevated safety for iPhone customers as effectively.
In an interview earlier than the Beeper Mini launch, the founder defined that the inexperienced bubble texts had been unencrypted.
“Which means any time you ship a textual content message to your mates on Android, anybody can learn the message. Apple can learn the message. Your provider can learn the message. Google… actually, it is like a postcard. Anybody can learn it “So the Beeper Mini actually will increase the safety of iPhones,” he advised TechCrunch.
Apple, then again, sees iMessage as one of many key instruments to attach customers to its ecosystem, which is why it is not going to launch an iMessage app for Android. Whereas there was some hope that EU laws would pressure iMessage to be made extra interoperable, information this week means that iMessage will get an exemption from these guidelines as a result of the service is not in style sufficient with enterprise customers. Which means Apple has no purpose to not attempt to cease the Beeper Mini, if it had been doable.
Migicowski isn’t pleased about this flip of occasions.
“I’d be very to know why they suppose making safety worse for iPhone customers is sensible,” he stated.
“If it is Apple, I believe the larger query is – if Apple actually cares concerning the privateness and safety of its iPhone customers, why would they attempt to kill a service that permits iPhones to ship encrypted conversations to Android customers? With their announcement of RCS assist, Apple clearly is aware of That has an enormous hole right here. The Beeper Mini is right here at this time and it really works nice. Why are we forcing iPhone customers to return to sending unencrypted SMS textual content messages when chatting with pals on Android?
Based in 2020, the Beeper group was initially engaged on a cross-platform messaging aggregator, which was renamed to Beeper Cloud this week with the launch of Beeper Mini. The latter makes use of a brand new expertise that permits Android customers to textual content iMessage customers as in the event that they had been additionally texting from an iPhone for simply $1.99 per 30 days. This implies there are blue bubbles within the group chat, not inexperienced bubbles. As a result of the startup not makes use of an middleman — corresponding to a Mac server that transmits messages, as different iMessage apps to Android do — it might basically seem to Apple’s servers that the Beeper Mini’s messages had been coming from a tool operating iMessage natively. It is unclear, then, how Apple was capable of reduce off the Beeper Mini’s entry.
What this implies for the Beeper Mini’s future is unsure.
“We’ll consider choices,” Migicowski stated.