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Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

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Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#181

Post by SllX »

jpalawaga wrote: post #145
InTheArena wrote: post #113

Its awesome to reverse engineer this... but.. At the end of the day, this product is taking money for using Apple Services with no recompense to Apple. It won't last. Apple should have added an iMessage client to Android (and charged for it) long, long, long ago, but it doesn't change the ethics problem here. (This is the downside to the "just pay for it with hardware" model people always love rather than paying subs…

iMessage is offered as a free service. If they would like to 'receive recompense', then they should simply charge people. Do we provide recompense to YCombinator for using hackernews?

Correction: iMessage is offered as a value-add to people who purchase supported Apple hardware (iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple Watches).

Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#182

Post by eitally »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #151

[flagged]

You're overly angry about something you either don't understand or haven't experienced. The color of the bubble meaningfully signifies that the existence of that person in a chat is degrading the chat experience for everyone else. As an Android user, it is awful to be in an iMessage group chat, and the iPhone users don't appreciate my presence any more. Basically nothing works properly, and it sucks... and this is by design to create lock-in via network effect.

Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#183

Post by cchance »

standardUser wrote: post #156
rootusrootus wrote: post #132

At this point, why not just wait for Apple to release their RCS implementation? The nicest thing about iMessage (for me, at least) has always been that it was a significant improvement to SMS that just worked, with graceful fallback to SMS for anyone who didn't use it. No installing third party apps, wondering if someone new I wanted to contact would be on that messaging app, etc. A nice bonus, but not something that…

WhatsApp, Telegram and many other platforms do everything that iMessage does and more, without the deliberate segregation of users on different platforms. In effect, you are using a third party app (as opposed to stock SMS), but Apple has integrated it into their OS and refused to release versions for other platforms.

Your literally talking about WhatsApp and Telegram as if they aren't their own segregated microcosms you can't message from whatsapp to telegram for instance so obviously they are their own segregated users by platform, its just a software platform not a hardware platform.

Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#184

Post by yonatan8070 »

jpalawaga wrote: post #145
InTheArena wrote: post #113

Its awesome to reverse engineer this... but.. At the end of the day, this product is taking money for using Apple Services with no recompense to Apple. It won't last. Apple should have added an iMessage client to Android (and charged for it) long, long, long ago, but it doesn't change the ethics problem here. (This is the downside to the "just pay for it with hardware" model people always love rather than paying subs…

iMessage is offered as a free service. If they would like to 'receive recompense', then they should simply charge people. Do we provide recompense to YCombinator for using hackernews?

Apple charges people to use iMessage by requiring you to use their hardware

Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#185

Post by monkeynotes »

> I am shocked that everyone is so shocked by the sheer existence

Huh? It's not being shocked, the legitimate question is what is Apply going to do? Saying you are shocked does not answer the question, if people buy into Beeper how likely is it that they lose functionality due to an Apple lock out?

Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#186

Post by dabluecaboose »

erohead wrote: post #141
dabluecaboose wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the response! I don't think I phrased my question properly, since they were mostly concerned about what kind of access the beeper.com matrix server has. If I set up my own bridge, it will still send all of my messages to e.g. @dabluecaboose:beeper.com, right? Their concern was what's happening in the Matrix server that's hosting my account, not as much the bridge.

All messages are encrypted by the bridge before being sent to the matrix homeserver. Homeserver cannot read or see any message contents. If you want to self host everything, including the homeserver, you can do this: https://github.com/beeper/self-host

Thanks! Appreciate the responses. I'll forward things to the interested parties. They're already all atwitter about the potential for a direct Signal reimplementation like the imessage one. That might just be the ticket!

Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#187

Post by paul7986 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #83
mholm wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WhatsApp/Signal involve other people you want to communicate with having those apps, which is fairly unlikely in the US (at least outside of tech/international social groups). Only chat apps out here you can count on are facebook messenger, sms/rcs, groupme, or imessage. iMessage is probably the best of these.

I have directly asked many relatives/friends in their 20s/30s, and they have told me they would assume an Android user has a higher likelihood of being “weird”. The barrier to entry to installing WhatsApp or Signal is near zero, just a minute of one’s time. And given that most everyone is using Meta’s other apps anyway, the privacy costs are moot. In fact, all of the people I asked have WhatsApp already, but mostly t…

Also in many countries Android is a sign of your social/economic class as many such headsets are super inexpensive compared to an iPhone.

If Apple started a new color "purple," that indicates sent via iPhone 15 Max well then that would be a further marketing boost for the multiple millions of ppl who care about social class & flaunt it. Apple overall is a luxury brand another one of their marketing strategies.

Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#188

Post by Obscurity4340 »

jwells89 wrote: post #119
modeless wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"E2E" is a joke when Apple holds the encryption keys to the vast majority of all messages, and uses them to respond to law enforcement requests. (It's how iCloud backup works by default and we know people don't change defaults. This is documented by Apple, not a conspiracy theory.)

It’s still a substantial upgrade over SMS or unencrypted (non-Google) RCS, where anybody can snoop on conversations with little effort.

Last time I checked, everyone knows SMS is cleartext and can't take over your phone in the profound way built-in 1st party apps/services you emphatically cannot remove (only toggle) can seize the means of production so to speak.

Re: Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android

#190

Post by standardUser »

rootusrootus wrote: post #175
standardUser wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WhatsApp, Telegram and many other platforms do everything that iMessage does and more, without the deliberate segregation of users on different platforms. In effect, you are using a third party app (as opposed to stock SMS), but Apple has integrated it into their OS and refused to release versions for other platforms.

So you're saying that if I install WhatsApp on my phone, I can text anyone I want, if I have their phone number? Doesn't matter if they have WhatsApp installed? I just say "send this to 5551212" and it gets there?

They need to install the app, which is free. What they don't need to do is buy an iPhone, which is not free.
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