Show HN: Beeper Mini – iMessage client for Android • Hacker News Board

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

#731

Post by xwolfi » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:08 AM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #652

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 iPhon…

In Hong Kong everyone has an iphone but everyone uses Whatsapp. I'm so surprised iMessage is even used at all, we all consider it a gimmick here, like, Whatsapp and Telegram are so great at their respective subset of features and WeChat does the rest.

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

#732

Post by xwolfi » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:13 AM UTC

Wytwwww wrote: post #397

addandsubtract wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because no one uses iMessage in the EU.

I'm pretty sure almost everyone sending messages from an iPhone to another is using it.

I'm from Europe and live in Hong Kong, in both places, iMessage to us is like Edge for Windows users: a gimmick we see auto-installed but we dont use. So many people don't have an iPhone, and we change phone number every few months anyway. The US experience might be diff, and Europe / Asia aren't a single country, so maybe it even varies within.

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

#733

Post by VanTheBrand » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:16 AM UTC

I think this might be launching at an opportune time. The EU is already trying to force them to open up the App Store and iMessage has a target on its back. A cease and desist about this won’t look great in the inevitable antitrust hearings…

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

#734

Post by colinsane » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:24 AM UTC

b8 wrote: post #606

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

there are FLOSS alternatives: jabber/XMPP (or arguably Matrix, etc)

okay, i sound snarky: but how is this aligned at all with FLOSS projects/communities/ideals? how/why would a FOSS project tie itself to a network run by a company that’s going to constantly be trying to kill their implementation? both the users and the devs would be constantly fed up with the breakages: you solve that either with open protocols or by paying somebody to do the dirty work of defending against Apple.

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

#735

Post by nolongerthere » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:28 AM UTC

windexh8er wrote: post #725

rezonant wrote: post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well messaging for one thing... Some others: - Find my device features including Bluetooth ping networking (airtags, Tile, Android's upcoming network) - Airdrop/Nearby Share - Bluetooth LE proximity pairing (at least I doubt this works when pairing cross ecosystem) - Carplay/Android Auto - Airplay/Google Cast

> Find My / Airtags Another Apple ecosystem that can be used by non-Apple devices. OpenHaystack [0] has been working well for quite a while. [0] https://github.com/seemoo-lab/openhaystack

Does this still work? that repository appears to be abandoned.

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

#736

Post by windowshopping » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:32 AM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #652

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 iPhon…

I am in the US and have been here my whole life. My entire extended social circle uses whatsapp. I realize that is the minority but it does exist.

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

#737

Post by dadoum » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:34 AM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #600

dadoum wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not the developer but I also looked at that binary to help the project at some point. It's taken straight from OS X 10.8 (more precisely from an Update Combo on their download portal). It's calling NACInit, NACKeyEstablishment and NACSign functions from it (which have no entry points but with reverse engineering the offsets have been figured out). They are themselves relying on OS X system functions to get devic…

If that becomes a problem and they get enough funding, I'm sure they can spend a few days / weeks reverse engineering the functions they need. At this point it just needs some effort, not some crazy research capabilities.

It’s already in the works, someone has already made a lot of progress on this front on pypush’ Discord server.

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

#738

Post by Melatonic » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:39 AM UTC

spogbiper wrote: post #503

chirau wrote: post #455

I'd love to try this. Anyone with a referral code?

You don't need a code. Just install the beeper mini app from the play store

When I installed it after it asked for a 2 dollar a month charge or referral code

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

#739

Post by Melatonic » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:42 AM UTC

Wintereise wrote: post #698

lyton wrote: post #684

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind giving me a referral for Beeper?

Here you go - refer.beeper.com/39gJJ0

Possible to generate another ? Says invalid code

Edit: I mean a code for Beeper Mini on Android - not desktop

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

#740

Post by fy20 » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 6:44 AM UTC

rezonant wrote: post #512

superduty wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is currently not interoperable between the majors mobile OS makers?

Well messaging for one thing... Some others: - Find my device features including Bluetooth ping networking (airtags, Tile, Android's upcoming network) - Airdrop/Nearby Share - Bluetooth LE proximity pairing (at least I doubt this works when pairing cross ecosystem) - Carplay/Android Auto - Airplay/Google Cast

- Carplay/Android Auto

Are there any headunits that only support one or the other? The cheap Chinese unit I got last year supports wireless for both. It would be nice to have an open protocol though, so third parties could develop alternative UIs.