Beeper shuts down iMessage in reaction to users’ suspension from Apple.
Apple predictably resisted Beeper’s audacious attempt to provide an iMessage client for Android. Nevertheless, the Beeper developers overcame some difficult obstacles and done just enough to get things back up and running. In response to Beeper’s change, Apple took drastic measures and prohibited certain users from using iMessage. Beeper has canceled its iMessage efforts as a result of the entire situation, even though Apple has already lifted the ban.
A few of the alleged changes that followed the December 21 update—which enabled users to establish an iMessage connection with an extra Mac or iPhone—were documented on the service’s X (Twitter) account. Upon further inquiry, Beeper discovered that Mac users were the source of all 30 reports about this banning episode.
It seems that the Mac prohibition was lifted in response to a story published in The New York Times. These Macs were apparently identified by Apple as spam, and the laptops that were blacklisted couldn’t even open the macOS Messages app. Fortunately, iMessage continued to function normally on other devices like the iPhone and iPad since Apple IDs remained unaffected. The Beeper team reports that they notified Apple about the incident involving the ban, but they never received a response from the business. At that point, they spoke with a reporter from the New York Times who had previously covered Beeper, and she contacted Apple on their behalf. According to Beeper, the bans were lifted after around two days.
Customers who haven’t had their Macs unbanned yet are advised to contact Apple Support or Beeper by utilizing the app’s Report a Problem feature. The bad news is that the service is completely discontinuing the ability to establish new Beeper Cloud iMessage connections. Users can also remove the iMessage connection from Beeper’s desktop software by following these instructions.
Based on the company’s blog post from more than a month ago, it appears that Beeper is formally quitting up, even if the writing was already pretty well on the wall. Not to mention that a few weeks later, the Beeper Mini app was taken down from the Google Play Store. The business intends to use its platform to accommodate additional messaging apps as it moves past this issue. We discovered that iMessage is still listed among the 15 supported messaging apps on the Beeper website, but we don’t think it will last for very long.
Relatedly, despite the fact that the green bubbles are here to stay, Apple has decided to offer RCS messaging on iMessage this year, primarily due to regulatory pressure from the European Union. In a similar vein, the business is also implementing additional changes in the EU, such launching its App Store.