Beeper Mini will add SMS & RCS, other services, and FaceTime in ‘near future’

Ben Schoon | Dec 6 2023 - 1:15 pm PT

The new Beeper Mini app brings native iMessage support to Android devices but without any support for SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, and the many other chat apps supported by the original Beeper app. Here’s the plan going forward.

In a roadmap published by Beeper this week, it’s explained that Beeper Mini is the first step in a pretty big overhaul to Beeper’s current service. As we mentioned in our coverage yesterday, the original Beeper app is now “Beeper Cloud,” as the app still uses Matrix bridges to connect to services such as WhatsApp, Signal, and RCS via Google Messages.

The idea going forward is to bring all of the other services currently supported by Beeper Cloud into Beeper Mini. At that point, “Mini” will be dropped, and the original app will be discontinued.

Beeper explains that the first priority for the new app is rounding out the feature set, with additions such as a foldable/tablet UI, scheduled messages, and options for importing past chat history while also exporting and backing up chat history. Further, and most notably, Beeper has plans to support FaceTime audio and video calls. FaceTime is technically officially supported on Android but in a very limited capacity.

Outside of that, another near-term addition is support for SMS (and RCS, based on Beeper’s AMA). WhatsApp and Signal would also be implemented here, using a method that employs no cloud servers and is fully end-to-end encrypted. Other apps will be added later via Matrix.

Over time, we will be adding support for 15 chat networks into Beeper Mini. Encrypted chat networks, like WhatsApp and Signal, will connect directly rather than going through a cloud server and be fully end-to-end encrypted in Beeper Mini, similar to iMessage.

Those services include WhatsApp, Instagram/Facebook Messenger, Twitter DMs, Google Chat, LinkedIn messages, Signal, and Telegram. With that in mind, Beeper Mini will also be coming to Windows, macOS, iOS, and the other platforms supported by the main Beeper app.

Notably, all of this additional work is, in part, the reason for the monthly subscription, as that funds the development.

There’s no set timeline for any of this to happen, but additions such as SMS and Facetime support are described as coming in the “near future.” Everything else will be in 2024 and beyond.