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

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

#771

Post by dwaite » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 8:58 AM UTC

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).

You switched from Android _just_ for iMessage? Why on earth for? Could you elaborate?

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

#772

Post by dwaite » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:01 AM UTC

barkerja wrote: post #633

dkarp wrote: post #624

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get spam messages on iMessage and never on WhatsApp, weird

I don't know if I have ever received an iMessage spam, and I have 6 addresses associated (5 emails, 1 phone number). SMS I get spam almost daily.

I've gotten local political messages from volunteers, but those were sent from their cellphones (and may have resulted in them being banned from iMessage a few days later)

I've never gotten an automated spam via iMessage protocol.

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

#773

Post by rezonant » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:13 AM UTC

fy20 wrote: post #741

nolongerthere wrote: post #735

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Apple did actually open up the network, there are plenty of third party devices that are 'Find My' compatible. It's intended for integration into things like bikes or scooters. You can buy tags from AliExpress for $5 that implement it. I've been using a few for a couple of months, and no issues so far.

It would be preferable if Find My capable smart devices could forward tag pings on to non-Apple owners and vice versa. Right now, Find My is strong in the US where iPhones are very common, but it works worse in places where most phones are Android, and vice versa for Androids in the US versus abroad.

You are referring to being able to track devices via the Find My portal on Apple.com or your Apple devices, but I am referring to being able to merge the networks so that Apple devices will forward pings onto Android's Find My network and vice versa.

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

#774

Post by xinayder » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:13 AM UTC

smashah wrote: post #620

ronsor wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple or Meta (WhatsApp) trying to take down something like this would almost certainly be viewed unfavorably by the ever-lurking EU regulators.

Please read this: https://gist.github.com/smashah/667d4d5cf31670ee87547450861a... The game being played here is poker. If they call beeper's bluff then they risk setting a whole industry wide precedent that interop supercedes ToS (that's the only angle). As it stands, ToS based C&D for interop is untested afaik. We as a community need to discuss ToS-trolling and fight against it.

This doesn't hold up.

https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/9966

https://github.com/libresignal/libresignal/issues/37

unless the EU rushes out their legislation that interop is not grounds for terminating someone's account, I'm sorry, but they can do whatever they want to with their app.

Would you feel happy if someone used your home network to seed torrents? Using your bandwidth to seed them?

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

#775

Post by geraldhh » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

apexalpha wrote: post #768

yalok wrote: post #765

Earlier quoted context omitted.

over 50% of US market (and a few other countries), for starters. Not EU's jurisdiction, but it is a major messaging service.

Yes, I know but I was specifically talking about the EU, since that's the only government legislation for open access.

bit of irony that this can fly because of legislation in a mostly irrelevant market

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

#776

Post by rfoo » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:15 AM UTC

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…

Do you mean that I now have a nice party trick - DoSing friends iPhone from sending iMessage? :)

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

#777

Post by actionfromafar » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:15 AM UTC

sudosysgen wrote: post #539

actionfromafar wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So how could I get an iMessage spam with no sender...

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

#778

Post by rezonant » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:16 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

See my comment below for why this isn't the interoperability I'm interested in. I don't want to use Apple's service, I want Bluetooth tag pinging to be standard across Apple, Tile, and Android ecosystem devices so that they all work equally well regardless of the percentage of one brand of phone or another in the area the tag is pinging from.

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

#779

Post by rezonant » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:18 AM UTC

fy20 wrote: post #740

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

- 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.

Or so that there isn't a duopoly lock in for a new phone OS or an android fork that doesn't have Google Play Services on it. Just like Google Cast and Airplay, this should be an open standard, not a pair of incompatible proprietary locked down solutions.

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

#780

Post by rezonant » Wed, Dec 06, 2023, 9:28 AM UTC

collegeburner wrote: post #647

nhumrich wrote: post #596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> apple's unique level of control allows it to produce a superior product with more consistency Another way to read this: Apple has a superior product because they perform anti-competitive practices and don't allow other companies to out-product them. And when they do, they buy them/shut them down before anyone is the wiser.

editorialization. you know as well as anyone that restricting your feature development to your own platform rather than doing a retarded design by committee helps one innovate faster.

Innovation is a good thing, but for many items on this list there's no more innovation happening. Google Cast and Airplay have been mostly unchanged for the last ten years, and the same is true for Airdrop and Nearby Share.

You can definitely make the argument about innovation in the messaging space, but RCS is very extensible. RCS Encryption definitely needs to be standardized, but I recommend you check out how Google layered it on top of RCS [1] including handling fallbacks for corner cases like switching your RCS client away from Google Messages before the system realizes it.

This is to say that RCS is pretty flexible, the key is handling the fallback paths in the extension design and working with other vendors to standardize promptly, so we don't end up with the same kind of broken mess that the carriers made.

[1] https://www.gstatic.com/messages/papers/messages_e2ee.pdf