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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

#531

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

bambax wrote: post #478

I'm sorry but don't understand exactly what this is. Is it a universal text app that you can use for all your contacts? Or do you need to know if the person you're texting with has an iPhone or not? Given the excitement and number of upvotes I'm obviously missing something, but I'm at a loss.

The excitement is because previously it was impossible for Android users to communicate with iPhone users over iMessage. If you're not in the US, you probably won't get this, but in the US it's very easy to be "the odd man out" as the only Android user in a group of friends. Group chats between iMessage and Android users is basically horrible right now - I seriously considered getting an iPhone solely because friends were annoyed with me for breaking their group chats.

What Beeper does (especially since it's such a huge technological achievement by reverse engineering the iMessage protocol, as opposed to just using a Mac server as a "man-in-the-middle" iMessage communicator) is unlock a part of the iOS ecosystem to non iOS users in a way that Apple has been avoiding for years.

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

#532

Post by altintx »

chatmasta wrote: post #501
altintx wrote: post #485

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sit in front of my work laptop which is signed into my work apple account. My iPhone is signed into my personal Apple account. I cannot iMessage from the keyboard because they won't play together. I've been using Cloud Beeper since early summer, and it makes the two apple systems play nice together. I also have a Windows machine signed in to it, but that's a nice to have.

Wait, how does this work? Is it using Handoff and sending from your phone, or Beeper is just a GUI and you've extracted a token from your personal phone to use with Beeper on your work device? Btw, this is mostly unrelated, but do you work for a large company? I'd assume most security teams would have a problem with a setup like this.

Neither. Their cloud server is a farm of Mac Minis or similar. Then Beeper Cloud is basically a proxy from the app to that data center.

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

#533

Post by saagarjha »

chatmasta wrote: post #471
threeseed wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Messages is the same on OSX and iOS. It's not deeply integrated into the iOS by any normal definition. It's just shipped together.

Messages has a bunch of special privileges on iOS, which is why they had to add the whole Blastdoor protection framework and why it's such a juicy target for sandbox escape exploits.

Nope. It just happens to be on everyone’s device and usually enabled

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

#534

Post by lotsofpulp »

a_carbon_rod wrote: post #526
lotsofpulp wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Messages app in macOS is less capable than the Messages app in iOS. It cannot even edit sent messages.

It can, by right clicking the desired message to edit. This is in macOS Sonoma, and I believe was a part of Ventura as well.

Oh interesting, I have a 2015 MacBook Air. Wonder if the feature is not available on whatever macOS version I have.

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

#535

Post by saagarjha »

threeseed wrote: post #422
afavour wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would make sense: because Apple have deeply coupled iMessage to the OS they can’t simply roll out a new version of the app with protocol changes that would block Beeper, they’d have to release entire OS updates. No matter the method it would be a scorched earth approach. I suspect the number of people actually using Beeper will be far below a rounding error for Apple.

> because Apple have deeply coupled iMessage to the OS No they haven't. On my Mac it's just an app and a reusable framework. There is nothing stopping them releasing it on the App Store similar to Mail.

Mail is also deeply coupled to the OS. The app itself does very little.

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

#536

Post by brokencode »

dylan604 wrote: post #516
chatmasta wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the finer legal points matter too much. If Apple wants to sue them, they'll sue them, regardless of legal merit. And I suspect Beeper is betting they can make their case from a more philosophical angle, such that it's irrelevant what grounds Apple cites when suing them. Beeper will fight it either way. I'm an Apple user who has no need for this app. But I really appreciate that Beeper has the balls to r…

>Beeper will fight it either way. That sounds nice and all, but what happens when the first bill comes due from their legal team?

I’d donate to a legal fund on this personally. I think a lot of people and large corporations would like to see Apple have to make concessions here.

I think if it comes to it, Apple will wind up looking very bad in a trial. Their behavior here is deeply anticompetitive. iMessage is just too important to modern text communication to be as locked down as it is.

If Apple doesn’t want to make an Android app, they should at least make an API so other developers can.

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

#537

Post by collegeburner »

HenryBemis wrote: post #525
WheatMillington wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this address iMessages sent from non-iPhone devices?

If in the data sent across (via Apple servers) the IMEI and serial no of the device are also transmitted, then Apple can in that millisecond query on their various lists/inventories that this device is legit (activated device + IMEI + serial) and if all lights are green, proceed to deliver, otherwise drop it. (perhaps different sets of data can be used, but it must be something that Apple already has, and the user ha…

you already have to do this to get certain apple services (including imessage) working on hackintoshes. turns out there's a really easy work-around: guess-and-check serial numbers on apple's web site until one works. they rate limit it a bit but you can usually find a working one without a terrible amount of hassle.

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

#538

Post by saagarjha »

threeseed wrote: post #426
jotux wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not that familiar with ios apps, can they not push out updates to individual apps?

On iOS many of the individual apps e.g. Mail, Notes you can delete and then re-download from the App Store. And as part of Security Updates they have patched vulnerabilities just in the relevant apps. So there is nothing technical stopping them. It's just been customary to treat iOS as a product where all features ship together.

Apple never patches security vulnerabilities in individual apps except for Safari, and they’ve stopped doing that too.

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

#539

Post by sudosysgen »

actionfromafar wrote: post #524
sudosysgen wrote: post #418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iMessage spam has been a thing for months, and if these guys could reverse-engineer iMessage, so can criminals.

But why can you register an iMessage account with no email and no phone number? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Signal avoided that and that protocol is documented.

You can't. Either it sends an SMS to an Apple server, or you need to sign in with your Apple account.
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