Beeper Mini

HeavyRaptor@lemmy.zip to Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ@lemmy.dbzer0.com – 61 points – Beeper Mini: Chat With iPhones - Apps on Google Play
play.google.com

So there is this app claiming on-device iMessage functionality on Android. Seems cool but only has subscription based pricing. Does anyone know of a way to circumvent this?

Edit: I found this but it seems a bit dodgy

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Iirc the entire app is open-source, you can prob strip out the subscription parts and build it yourself

The original work/PoC they based it off of is PyPush and that definitely has a GitHub here: https://github.com/JJTech0130/pypush

If you can't/don't do the work, you'll have to wait, something will come along eventually but that app just came out the other day

That's just the proof of concept, there is a lot of work and infrastructure besides that code. You can read a more in depth explanation of how it works on their blog

https://blog.beeper.com/p/how-beeper-mini-works

Yea I know it's a PoC, It's work, but not that much work...if you have the skill set lol

I was actually digging into JJTechs project a bit, I'm planning on building something of my own, but my version is going to try to tap into Androids messaging service instead so that I can use any SMS app I wish.

The idea being my service will be a translation layer of sorts instead of an independent app that I have to switch too.

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The only person I know who has an iPhone is my fiance and we use Matrix to communicate or Signal as a fallback if I fuck up the Matrix server. So this app is not really for me.

I really wonder how long it will take Apple to just be able to detect and block it.

They can't block it, as it's using the standard imessage way. They could change the way iMessage works, but that would break iMessage support on older iOS devices that no longer are supported.

They'll probably find a way of authenticating that a phone number is using an iPhone, or start requiring an extra step when a number tries registering for use on its servers.

that would break iMessage support on older iOS devices that no longer are supported

Yes, that's what "no longer supported" means.

In this context “no longer supported” just means “no longer receiving active development support”. Not “doesn’t work with the service”.

So actually no, that’s not what “no longer supported” means here, at all.

They haven't blocked any other third party apps using iMessage.

I don't really think they want to. It's kind of like pirating - more people are using the service.

I had always dreamed of visiting California, the land of sun, surf and celebrities. So when I got the chance to go there for a week, I was over the moon. I packed my bags, grabbed my camera and boarded the plane.

I spent the first day in Los Angeles, where I saw the Hollywood sign, walked along the Walk of Fame and took a tour of the Universal Studios. I felt like I was in a movie. The next day, I drove to San Francisco, where I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, visited the Alcatraz Island and rode a cable car. I was amazed by the diversity and culture of the city.

The rest of the week, I explored the natural beauty of California. I hiked in the Yosemite National Park, where I saw waterfalls, mountains and wildlife. I camped in the Sequoia National Park, where I marveled at the giant trees. I surfed in the Malibu Beach, where I enjoyed the waves and the sun.

It was the best vacation of my life. I took hundreds of photos and videos to capture every moment. But there was one problem: I didn't own an iPhone. So I couldn't share them with anyone.

If you can't figure out a way of sharing your photos (and you're not being sarcastic), you have very little imagination.

Sounds like the perfect vacation! (Including the last sentence)

If you have an apple computer you can set something like this up for free.

And I believe the folks at Beeper published their self-host on Github.

Even a trial of this REQUIRES them to have billing info on file. Likely Apple is going to shut this down within a few months. If they don't, I imagine some better options may emerge.

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I definetely wouldn't trust that link; Beeper mini functionality requires you to conect to their servers for registration, initial handshake and push notifications so I don’t think there is a way to avoid a subscription

Edit for clarity: I wouldn't trust the apk you linked in your edit, not the original Beeper mini app in the play store

No. That is beeper.

Beeper mini is a stand alone app that was acquired by beeper that does not do the MITM shit.

See the comment by @cm0002 for details.

Still don't think it is a good idea. As another comment stated I expected apple to block it in the near future.

They do use their infrastructure to connect to Apple Notification Service servers when the app is not used, they do act as a Man In The Middle but in a secure, concise manner (not in a sketchy way). And they conect to their servers for registration and subscription status. You can read a more in depth explanation on their blog

https://blog.beeper.com/p/how-beeper-mini-works

Besides all that I'm not sure if someone who wants to create it's own implementation of all of this can do it without any apple device; reading jjtech technical explanation (https://jjtech.dev/reverse-engineering/imessage-explained/) where he explains pypush he mentions the obfuscation process for registering a device to apple servers, here is where pypush somehow manages to convince Apple that the machine is genuine, there is a mention there to some serial identifier stored on a file called data.plist, if someone wants to implement this proof of concept would need to give another serial identifier?

What’s the point? Why not just use e.g. Discord?

The US seems to have this weird obsession with SMS and iMessage.

IPhone users have a weird obsession with Blue bubbles. The rest of us find it childish and annoying. They refuse to use any messenger other than iMessage.

I have a friend, not currently on iPhone, who was having trouble with SMS (note that SMS has a known message failure rate of about 10%+). He refused to switch to another messaging app, doesn't want to have multiple places to message from. 🤦‍♂️

This is the mindset of iMessage obsessors. Frankly I see it as pretty juvenile. They don't want to put effort into solving a problem.

This same person always has dozens of notifications sitting in the notification shade. Stuff you just don't need to see, that Android lets you silence. Or just app notifications. Well no wonder he doesn't want another messenger, with that much garbage he wouldn't know he got a new message.

I am an iPhone user among a school of half-and-half iPhone and Android users. None of the iPhone users I've met care what bubbles you blow and while I have some friends that do prefer iMessage (when possible) we have all accepted that it's not cross-platform and a lot of people just use alternatives.

The bubble obsession is just a lie that tech news uses to sensationalize RCS marketing. While the point of cross-platform still stands, nobody cares about bubbles. At most we just talk about how sending SMS costs extra money than data one already has for some people.

It wasn't a lie from tech marketing, people genuinely acted this way.

It has faded a lot in the last decade, but it was definitely a prevalent mindset from people my age around 2010.

Really, it's a lie that I've heard from people I know?

We have people of all ages in our family, and we hear the bubble issue, especially from younger folks.

Please tell me again how it's a lie.

  1. Discord sucks
  2. If you can get my friends/family to switch to anything else I'm on board.

You act like we haven't tried to get people to switch. Even Android users. People can't be arsed to change because they don't see the problem.

I've gotten 1 person to switch away from SMS to Telegram, because it has clients for every OS. That makes it convenient, and it can do a lot more.

Whyyyyyy. Why telegram? 😭

Signal is way better...

Signal is more secure.

It's nowhere near as convenient as Telegram, the clients on each OS are at best OK.

Show me conversation history when I login to Signal desktop. Oh, yea, it doesn't do that. Is there even a web login?

From a typical user standpoint, Signal looks like text messaging, and that matters to them. And it's not simple to manage.

Signal is coming along, and I look forward to when it's mature enough that I can get people to use it (again). But they also made a massive mistake in dropping SMS support. That was my best tool to get people to switch. When they dropped SMS, those folks all left signal.

  1. Signal does not allow alternative clients.

  2. Feature wise, telegram is just better, so getting someone switch is easier.

"Signal is way better" why do you think so?

  1. What about Molly?
  2. Okay, explain what features are missing

  1. Signal does not have an official api to be implemented by third party clients. There are very few clients that can work with signal. It does not 'support' third party clients.

  2. Well, there are many!

Chats that can be simultaneously accessed from multiple devices? Video messages? Sticker packs that can be added with links and packs are availiable from one sticker sent? Animated stickers? Bots?(idk if bots are there on signal) Inline bots? Group management? Groups with 200,000members? Modular admin permissions for groups? Emojis with animations? Channels? Usernames? A non-electron app? Themes which can customise every single colour to any color which can be made and shared? Send message without notifying? Group voice channels which people can hope in and out? Screensharing in calls(unsure)? Code formatting? 2GB media upload? Smooth and quick animations everywhere?(this one might be relative) Fingerprint app unlock?(If it exist, its not working for me)

Theese are the ones i can remember now, there are more