Beeper Mini Brings iMessage's Blue Bubbles Back To Android But There's A Very Big Catch
Android smartphone owners rejoiced when Beeper Mini launched in the Google Play Store, as it meant they were no longer relegated to a green bubble when messaging their friends on an iPhone. The issue Android users face when messaging an iPhone user is that the message is currently not sent through Apple’s servers, and thus loses many of the features iPhone users are privy to. The Beeper Mini app gave Android users access to features like read receipts and high-resolution media. However, Apple caught on to the method being used fairly quickly and shut it down.
Shortly after the method was shut down by Apple, Beeper Mini seemed to resolve the issue. However, the method to bring back Apple's blue bubble bliss on Android requires an Apple ID for it to work. Before, users only needed to register with a phone number to take advantage of the app. This made the process much more difficult for many, and caused instability within the app.
In a post on Reddit from the Beeper Mini account, it remarked that Beeper Mini had found yet another solution to stabilize the iMessage situation for Beeper Cloud and Mini. It stated that the solution worked well and was very reliable in testing. The solution does come with one serious downside, though—users need access to a Mac computer.
In the message on Reddit, the Beeper Mini representative remarks, “When you connect iMessage on Beeper, we need to send identification information called ‘registration data’ from a real Mac. We have, up until now, been using our own fleet of Mac servers to provide this. Unfortunately, this has proven to be an easy target for Apple because thousands of Beeper users were using the same registration data.”
Beeper Mini insists the data is only used to show that a Mac is available for registration. It does not give any access to anyone’s account, or messages. The company also says that 10-20 iMessage users can safely use the same registration data, meaning multiple people can use the same Mac computer registration information.
It is important to note that this does not negate the need to have an Apple ID email to sign up. It merely solves the instability issues the app has been experiencing. So, if a user wants a stable experience, they will have to not only have an Apple ID, but the registration information from a Mac computer.
Apple has stated that it is working on implementing RCS and that it will launch in the near future. However, Apple is still planning to distinguish iMessage and RCS texts with blue and green bubbles, respectively.
After the tech giant blocked the Beeper Mini app the first time, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts put Apple on blast for blocking the app via her X/Twitter account. Hopefully, between all the fuss from Android users and now a US Senator putting pressure on the Cupertino-based company to resolve the issue, Apple will hurry in launching RCS for a smoother texting experience across mobile platforms.
