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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

#651

Post by [deleted] »

Kab1r wrote: post #584
collegeburner wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

okay but this "interoperability" is legitimately hard without degrading the user experience because apple's unique level of control allows it to produce a superior product with more consistency. airdrop is best-in-class; open-source solutions like wi-fi direct are dumpsterfires with trash UX. LE proximity pairing is, i believe, a custom chip apple put in airpods (h1 chip) because bluetooth is stuck in 2005 and still…

It's really not. Just make the "superior product" interoperable.

[deleted]

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

#652

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

windowshopping wrote: post #540

Dang, I support your efforts but I just don't have any incentive to pay for a texting app. Normal texting and WhatsApp and discord and Instagram and tiktok messages etc etc are all free. So I just don't really have a reason to subscribe to this.

> Normal texting and WhatsApp and discord and Instagram and tiktok messages etc etc are all free.

This product is not for you. I don't know where you're commenting from, but I'm guessing it's not from the US. Using WhatsApp or Discord or Instagram or TikTok messages only have value because the people you want to talk to use them. In the US, iMessage is by far the dominant messaging service for iPhone users, and iPhones dominate certain socioeconomic groups. This situation sucks, but there are lots of Android users who get extremely frustrated when a large group of their friends are on iPhones, to the point it can be socially isolating when you're "the odd man out" in a group chat (and it's not the whole green/blue bubbles the media likes to talk about, it's that interoperability between iMessage and other clients sucks and breaks many features).

This is a great option for US Android users who want to be able to better communicate with their friends that have iPhones.

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

#654

Post by azinman2 »

sounds wrote: post #519
ttul wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Apple does start enforcing signed attestations, they will say that it's to reduce abuse. I have no doubt (being in the anti-abuse world) that spammers and phishing gangs will immediately begin using Beeper to spam iMessage users because this allows them to avoid buying an iOS device. With end-to-end encryption, Apple may also decide to roll out privacy-protecting client-side spam and phishing detection, which woul…

The phone number registration https://blog.beeper.com/i/139416474/sending-and-receiving-me... will make it possible to enforce legal action against malicious and spammy messages. Note that iPhones already receive SMS spam and fraud just like every other phone. However, you are correct that the blue bubble is no longer a guarantee that the bad actor is using an iPhone.

They do receive spam and fraud, but the numbers are orders of magnitude less than every one’s else BECAUSE it’s tied to hardware. I don’t know the details of how’s these guys got around it, but this is bad for the rest of us when phishing skyrockets.

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

#655

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

b8 wrote: post #606

The fee and requiring account signup are a dealbreaker. Hopefully someone will create a FLOSS alternative.

Why are people so godawful cheap that they demand so much labor from others for free? I'd gladly pay for this, it's hella cheaper than me having to switch from Android to iPhone.

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

#656

Post by oldandboring »

seanw265 wrote: post #480
oldandboring wrote: post #434

Thinking maybe this isn't working. I downloaded, installed. It said it detected all my chats with iPhone users and that I was 'upgraded' to iMessage chats with them. I then tried using Beeper Mini to message someone I know has an iPhone (continuing our existing chat that it 'upgraded' from SMS) and I asked him if I was coming up as a blue bubble and he said it's 'grey', not green and definitely not blue.

Can't comment on whether it works or not, but it sounds like there's a mix-up here. On iOS, it would be their bubble that is either blue or green when messaging you, not yours. To an iOS user, everyone else is a grey bubble.

Hah! Whoops!

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

#657

Post by justinjlynn »

c0pium wrote: post #555
JoshTriplett wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With end-to-end encryption, Apple may also decide to roll out privacy-protecting client-side spam and phishing detection, which would IMHO be a really great thing. Spam protection should be on the recipient , rather than the sender .

As we’ve learned very clearly over the last 20 years of commercialization of spam, that never works. The only tractable way to fight fraud and abuse is to impose cost.

The massive prevalence of physical junk mail would refute your argument that even a significant per message cost would dissuade abuse.

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

#658

Post by sohzm »

djvdq wrote: post #448
bogwog wrote: post #296

This seems like it won't last, but it's AWESOME and I really hope you survive Apple's inevitable attempts to kill this. A universal chat application would be amazing, and will maybe help bring attention to the value of standards and interoperability (hopefully by governments/regulators).

> A universal chat application would be amazing You mean like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and dozens of different chat apps available for both Android and iOS?

Relavent xkcd: https://xkcd.com/927/

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

#659

Post by mderazon »

I love the concept of Beeper or now "Beeper Cloud" and I am trying really hard to use the app but the app is just too sluggish to be usable. I am not sure why, perhaps because it's built on top of the Matrix oss app, not sure.

Eventually, opening WhatsApp/Telegram is super quick and Beeper is too slow

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

#660

Post by azinman2 »

rattray wrote: post #642
windowshopping wrote: post #540

Dang, I support your efforts but I just don't have any incentive to pay for a texting app. Normal texting and WhatsApp and discord and Instagram and tiktok messages etc etc are all free. So I just don't really have a reason to subscribe to this.

I recently paid >$1000 for the privilege of access to iMessage when switching from Android to iPhone. I'd have been _much_ happier staying on my preferred operating system and paying $24/yr. (iMessage has, for me, actually been worth it - but still, I frequently find myself wishing that something like Beeper Mini existed so I could go back to android).

What do you prefer about Android?
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