Beeper’s next iMessage for Android fix requires access to a Mac

Abner Li | Dec 19 2023 - 9:43 am PT

As of Sunday, 60% of Beeper users weren’t able to send or receive iMessage, and the company’s upcoming Android solution is to “have access to a Mac computer, or have a friend on Beeper with a Mac.”

Beeper’s iMessage solution works by sending “registration data” from a real Mac, with the company using its own fleet of Mac servers to do this.

Unfortunately, this has proven to be an easy target for Apple because thousands of Beeper users were using the same registration data.

The new workaround involves having iMessage for Android users generate their own registration data by using a Mac. Beeper Cloud for macOS will be updated tomorrow to support this, with that data needing to be periodically regenerated “once per week or month.” You’re advised to keep your Mac on “regularly” if you go down this route.

Please note that this update restores chatting on iMessage with your AppleID email, if you do not currently have a iPhone number tied to your account.

For those that don’t have a Mac, Beeper is advising that you ask friends “if you can use their registration data.” The company says “10-20 iMessage users can safely use the same registration data.”

Top comment by Vesso

Liked by 35 people

Maybe it’s about time to own up that this was a bad idea to begin with. Who is going to jump through all these hoops just to use iMessae?

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On the privacy front, Beeper says:

Registration data is used only to indicate that a Mac is available during registration. The Mac in no way is given any access to your account, or your messages.

It’s also open-sourcing the iMessage bridge in full and the “Mac code that generates registration data”:” to provide a self-host alternative. Beeper ultimates says “it works well, and, in our testing, is very reliable.”

There’s an inherent crowd-sourcing element to this solution, but it remains to be seen how sustainable it is and whether people with Macs will be willing to help others in this manner. There’s also a certain callback to Tim Cook’s infamous “Buy your mom an iPhone” comment in 2022.

Apple previously said it would continue to issue iMessage updates to combat Beeper. It seems like Apple re-architecting iMessage seems to be the long-term solution if this back-and-forth continues.