Beeper

Beeper revives iMessage for Android with your phone number, but uses jailbroken iPhones

Ben Schoon | Dec 21 2023 - 8:12 am PT

Beeper Mini was a huge deal in the fight to bring iMessage to Android, but Apple swiftly turned the reverse-engineered method into an inconsistent experience for users. Beeper’s current plan to restore service is using a Mac, but the company is now launching a new method that also uses jailbroken iPhones.

Earlier this week, Beeper confirmed that it would enable a new Mac-based system to get around Apple’s efforts to block the service. Users would be able to use a Mac (even if it was a friend’s) to generate registration data for Beeper Cloud or Beeper Mini and keep the iMessage service running. But there’s more to it now.

As detailed in a blog post (which was briefly available yesterday before being deleted), Beeper will keep the two methods that it believes “Apple can tolerate existing.”

The first, as detailed earlier this week, uses Beeper Cloud’s desktop app on a Mac to obtain registration data for iMessage. Users without access to a Mac of their own can use the registration data of a friend or family member willing to share that data.

The second is a bit more involved. Beeper details that users with access to an iPhone, even an old one, can jailbreak their device and effectively use it as a bridge. The iPhone’s registration data can be used to keep iMessage going and, if left connected to power and Wi-Fi, can re-enable Beeper Mini to use your Android phone’s phone number. Beeper says in the deleted post:

Have an old iPhone (6/6s/SE1/7/8/X) and a Mac or Linux computer (Raspberry Pi works) – you’re in luck! Follow our instructions (takes only 5-10 minutes) to jailbreak your iPhone, install a Beeper tool to generate iMessage registration code, then update to the latest Beeper Mini app and enter your code. Phone number registration will now work! Leave the iPhone plugged into power, at home, connected to wifi.

As for why Beeper’s registration data stopped working previously, it’s explained that a fleet of Mac servers were used for the data, but that became an “easy target for Apple because thousands of Beeper users were using the same registration data.”

The latest method requires Beeper Mini version 1.2.30 (heading to Play Store soon), while Beeper Cloud’s update requires version 3.90.20. Beeper is also publishing open-source versions of the tools that pull registration codes from iPhones and Macs.