via Beeper
Well, folks, the party’s over. You don’t have to go home but you can’t iMessage here. Beeper, if you’ll remember from just a few days ago, introduced Beeper Mini. They used a reverse-engineering exploit to register Android phones, without an Apple ID, with iMessage. It allowed Android users to send and receive iMessages without an Apple device. Today, that may have come to an end. Beeper Mini users are reporting they cannot send iMessages. I can confirm on my own device, iMessage service is broken. It seems Apple kicked the Android users out, slamming the door shut behind us.
What Happened
At first, Beeper believed the issue could be on their end. MKBHD had mentioned Beeper Mini in a podcast video today. An influx of new users could prove problematic. However, Beeper Mini does not rely on Beeper’s servers for anything outside of receiving notifications. If the issue was on Beeper’s side, you could still send messages, however you wouldn’t be able to receive them unless the Beeper Mini app was open. Users couldn’t send or receive messages at all. It quickly became clear that Apple was the culprit.
Beeper Mini worked by convincing Apple that you had set up a new Apple device with a new phone number. According to those who set up their devices through Beeper Mini with their Apple ID, this device was a mocked Mac Mini. However, it seems Apple eventually figured out how to differentiate between these fake sign-ups and real ones, and has blocked off access to their iMessage service for those devices.
The error message we get when trying to use the service is failed to lookup on server: lookup request timed out. This means that, while trying to access the iMessage server, we reach a timeout, as in, the app gives up. This usually means the server either is down, or refuses to acknowledge your client’s request. Since iMessage is working on my iPhone and Mac, it seems clear: iMessage isn’t talking to Android anymore.
TechCrunch spoke to Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky, asking if Apple had cut Beeper Mini access off. He stated, “Yes, all data indicates that.”
“If it’s Apple, then I think the biggest question is — if Apple truly cares about the privacy and security of their own iPhone users, why would they try to kill a service that enables iPhones to send encrypted chats to Android users?”
– Eric Migicovsky, on what Apple and their users lose by shutting Beeper Mini down
What Can Beeper Mini Users Do?
Well, first, you can ask your iMessage-using friends to send messages as SMS. To do this, they can long press on the messages they’ve attempted to send you, then select “Send as Text Message.” That’s the only way you’re getting messages from iPhone users until your device is no longer registered with iMessage.
Next, you can cancel your Beeper Mini service. To do this, first open Beeper Mini. Click the gear icon in the search bar at the top right. Tap “Manage Subscription.” It’ll take you to your list of app subscriptions through Google Play. Tap Beeper Mini, then tap “Cancel Subscription” at the bottom. Go back to Beeper Mini, and go back into Settings. Tap the bottom option with an Apple logo, “Manage connection.” The button on the bottom reads “Unlink and Sign out of Beeper.” Tap that button, then select “Proceed. It’ll log you out. You can close and even delete Beeper Mini now.
Finally, confirm your number is no longer registered with iMessage on Apple’s website. Go to Apple’s self service support page here. Enter the phone number you were using with iMessage and the code from the image, then click “Send Code.” If your number is still registered with iMessage, you’ll receive a text message from Apple. Enter the confirmation code below that, and your number will be off Apple’s records.
If your number has already been deregistered, you’ll receive an error message telling you that your number is not verified with iMessage.
You may have to wait a few hours before messages from friends come through as expected. You may also have to ask friends who messaged you over iMessage to turn iMessage off and back on their devices. For me, it was working immediately, but your phone may take longer to switch over.
What’s Next?
That’s a good question! Sometimes, this is just a game of cat and mouse. Apple makes something, someone else figures out how it works and exploits it, Apple tries a quick fix to block them out, and someone else has to find a new workaround. Sometimes that can be a simple fix. For example, if they start randomizing the data for these fake devices better. Apple might have a harder time differentiating between real Apple devices and those that are being faked. It could require an Apple ID after all, just to get through that sign-up process. Maybe Beeper Mini will be back online by next week.
Apple doesn’t care, they already won.
More Battles to Come, but Apple’s Won the War
I’m unemployed right now. When Verizon messed up my cellular service, it wasn’t something I could sit around on. I had to rush to a Verizon store immediately to fix it. After all, I had interviewers calling me, daily, to get me in my new role.
What if you couldn’t rely on your text messages? Something as simple as a text from your mom could be lost in limbo. Significant others ghosted! All that good will you got by finally using blue bubbles, squandered. A vital communication form just disappears, and no one else knows why they can’t contact you.
Apple won.
No one will trust Beeper Mini now. Sure, it may, once again, work for a few days, but what if it goes down again? It certainly didn’t last as long as people thought it would. I had guessed that I wouldn’t even have a chance to actually exit the one week Beeper Mini trial period, but thought there was a small chance it could last a little longer. Apparently not. I made a little Cyberpunk 2077 inside joke in the messages I used for screenshots. The main character in Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t exactly spend much time in “the big leagues.” I’d call it a spoiler, but it happens early in the game. No matter how high you rise later, you can never get back everything you lost.
Beeper Mini might work again one day. Then it’ll fail. It’ll drop your important messages leaving you stranded, potentially for as much as an entire day, without SMS fallbacks working. Then it may take them weeks to find another workaround.
Apple eroded trust in Beeper’s new toy, and few will trust it ever again.
Sources:
- Sarah Perez, TechCrunch
- Will Shanklin, Engadget