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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

#211

Post by microtonal »

SllX wrote: post #181
jpalawaga wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

That’s a positive way to formulate it. The more cynical formulation is that it is a way to lock people into the Apple ecosystem and (especially in the US) to apply social pressure to people to buy an iPhone.

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

#212

Post by fragmede »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #118
fragmede wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whatsapp and signal don't load messages that were sent before joining a channel, a modern feature that slack has had since launch.

I would not expect/want that behavior from a chat app. If I was having a conversation with 3 people, and then a 4th person walked up and joined the conversation, I expect them to not be privy to anything discussed prior to them joining. A “channel” that shows all participants the entire history seems more like a private forum thread than a “chat”, and should probably be distinguished separately.

Whatever you want to call it, if we're having a conversation, say, planning a birthday party for Bob, and we forgot to invite Alice to the conversation, through the magic of computers, instead of us having to start the conversation from the beginning again when every new person joins, they can just read the scroll back.

If you're the type of person having conversations about people that you wouldn't want them to hear, maybe you shouldn't be having them?

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

#214

Post by nicolas_17 »

atlas_hugged wrote: post #62
llm_nerd wrote: post #27

My first thought is "was Apple behind this?" I understand that they claim to have reverse engineered it...but if it's such a trivial conversation exchange, it is a bit surprising this hasn't been utilized before. Seems convenient given the loud exchanges happening about RCS and the like. And unlike RCS, iMessages actually has E2E baked in. The next thought it the utilization for abuse such as spam. E2E is wonderful b…

I don’t think so. The security researcher is a kid in high school that seems really fucking sharp.

I have confirmed with him that he hadn't been born yet when Steve Jobs announced the iPhone.

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

#215

Post by SllX »

ryaneager wrote: post #136
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…

As if Apple doesn’t have hundreds of Billions in the bank... I think they can afford to foot the bill.

One of the ways they got to having billions in the bank is by selling things for money at a profit. If Apple ever offers iMessage to Android users directly, Apple is going to get paid somehow.

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

#217

Post by olliej »

awat wrote: post #177

Fortunately, I think this is going to be a forcing function for the RCS conversation. Unfortunately, I'll be waiting for the data loss post coming in the near future. As some one who had to deal with a stuck iMessage validation with Apple support on a genuine iPhone a few years back this can get sticky.

RCS is not an iMessage replacement though? it's not encrypted, it doesn't support a single identity for multiple devices, it requires cell service and a phone number

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

#218

Post by artursapek »

What's hilarious about all this is the main reason people want iMessage on Android is not missing features, or speed, or anything practical. It's because Apple chose an intentionally terrible shade of green to use for SMS messages, to make messaging Android users unpleasant. If they had used a green with similar contrast and saturation as their iMessage blue, this wouldn't be such a big deal. Literally a single color swatch, that's what this is about.

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

#219

Post by danaris »

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…

If what you care about is the color of your bubbles, then that won't make a difference.

Green bubbles don't mean "second-class citizen" or "doesn't support proper group chats"; they mean "SMS" (or possibly "not iMessage"; that's not yet clear).

It's extremely unlikely Apple will make RCS bubbles blue—even if they don't make them green (and keep that reserved specifically for SMS), they'll make them some other color.

It's not a way to make sure you can identify the outgroup and shun them; it's a meaningful signal of what technology other people you're chatting with are using, which tells you useful information about their capabilities.

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

#220

Post by lotsofpulp »

fragmede wrote: post #212
lotsofpulp wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would not expect/want that behavior from a chat app. If I was having a conversation with 3 people, and then a 4th person walked up and joined the conversation, I expect them to not be privy to anything discussed prior to them joining. A “channel” that shows all participants the entire history seems more like a private forum thread than a “chat”, and should probably be distinguished separately.

Whatever you want to call it, if we're having a conversation, say, planning a birthday party for Bob, and we forgot to invite Alice to the conversation, through the magic of computers, instead of us having to start the conversation from the beginning again when every new person joins, they can just read the scroll back. If you're the type of person having conversations about people that you wouldn't want them to hear…

I understand the pros and cons, I just think there should be a clear demarcation of which is which. I can see a chat app deciding to keep this feature out if they think it would make the app too confusing for its audience.
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