Imessage: Apple may have blocked app that brought iPhone’s iMessage to Android

Apple may have restored the blue bubble-green bubble difference between iPhones and Android. Earlier this week, startup Beeper said that it has developed an app, called Beeper Mini, that allows Android users to send and receive iMessage chats that are end-to-end encrypted. But it seems that roughly three days after the news broke, Apple has fixed the issue that allowed cross-messaging between platforms.
As per a report by The Verge, the app started experiencing technical issues on Friday (December 8).Users were suddenly unable to send and receive blue bubble messages, and the problems worsened over the course of the day, as per numerous reports on the Beeper subreddit.
This suggests that Apple may have plugged the holes that allowed Android users to enjoy the iMessage experience with iPhone users. Notably, Beeper Mini was the result of a comprehensive attempt to reverse engineer Apple’s messaging protocol.
Beeper confirms outage
In a post on X, Beeper confirmed the outage. Initially, Beeper said that the app was not working, and the startup fixed it. However, it quickly informed users in another post that the service was not working for ‘all accounts’.
“Beeper Cloud – iMessage works again! We are very proud to say that iMessage is now working again on Beeper Cloud. After a Herculean effort from my amazing colleagues, our iMessage bridge is back in action. Unfortunately, messages received during the outage are not recoverable,” it said in a post on X.

“And…we might have spoken a bit too soon. It’s not working for all accounts yet. More work to do, we’re going to sleep now but back at it tomorrow,” it said in a separate post.

How Android users sent iMessages
A 16-year-old developer messaged Eric Migicovsky, CEO of Beeper, claiming to have reverse-engineered iMessage. Migicovsky was also provided with a working prototype, which later turned out to be the Beeper Mini.
Beeper reverse-engineered the iMessage protocol down to its lowest layer, which means Beeper Mini is a native implementation of the iMessage protocol. The startup claimed that chats through its app are end-to-end encrypted.
Thus, Beeper does not have access to users’ messages, and unlike Sunbird’s app, messages are not sent in clear text. Instead, the Beeper Mini encrypts messages on the Android device before sending them to the recipient. Encryption keys are stored on your phone, and the app only connects to Apple servers, not Beeper’s.
It just required a person with an Android phone with the Beeper Mini app installed to log in through a phone number without an Apple ID. Once signed up, the chats will appear in the blue bubbles on the iMessage. All iMessage features, including typing status, read receipts, media sharing, emoji reactions, voice messages, and more, were supported.