Beeper Mini is a new app for iMessage on Android that turns your phone number into a blue bubble

Beeper Mini is a new app for iMessage on Android that turns your phone number into a blue bubble،

The blue bubble madness continues with the release of a new app that lets you use iMessage on Android. However, this app differs from others in that it allows you to use your real phone number, instead of an email address, so you can really fool your iPhone friends into thinking you're doing part of the same ecosystem.

What is Beeper Mini and how does it work?

Beeper Mini is a new app from the folks at Beep, the unified chat app with a companion Mac app, which lets you use iMessage, Telegram, Discord, RCS and more on your Android device. Beeper Mini, however, allows Android users to only send and receive iMessages without having to provide their Apple ID information. The app is still in its early stages, but it already supports many of iMessage's most important features, such as group chats, high-resolution media sharing, emoji reactions, voice messages, and more.

Setting up Beeper Mini is simple. Simply download the app from Google game, tap “continue with Google” to sign in with Google, grant the app permission to access your SMS conversations and contact list, and you're on your way. Once you complete the setup, the app will seamlessly integrate your previous SMS conversations with iPhone users and upgrade them to iMessage.

These conversations will be organized in a list like most chat apps, although you can pin certain conversations to the top. From the home screen, you can tap the “New Chat” button, swipe right to mark a conversation as unread, or swipe left on a conversation to mute it. From the top bar, you can change your display name and profile picture or go to the app settings, where you can change the theme, enable read receipts, turn off sounds, enable push notifications or log in your Apple ID – a step that is not completely necessary.

Is it secure?

After the Nothing Chats and Sunbird debacle, you would be one hundred percent justified in questioning the security of this app, and so Beeper has taken several steps to gain the trust of its security-conscious users. The Beeper Mini team has released a deep technical diving on how the application works, as well as other more technical documents and source code shared by the developer.

This is the opinion of those who know more about code than you do, like a journalist and an Android expert. Michael Rahmanthat the app is the first truly successful reverse engineering of iMessage that doesn't relay messages from a Mac Mini farm or require you to sign in to your iCloud account.

Beeper Mini is a new app for iMessage on Android that turns your phone number into a blue bubble

In fact, the Beeper Mini team is so confident that their app is airtight that they even went so far as to invite security researchers to verify all their claims. Boldly claim the following and declare that they are different from these “other apps”.

Unlike all other attempts at creating an Android app like this (including our first generation Beeper app), Beeper Mini does not use a Mac relay server in a data center. Instead, the app connects directly to Apple servers to send and receive end-to-end encrypted messages. Encryption keys never leave your device. No Apple ID is required. Beeper does not have access to your Apple account.

Beeper Mini System Architecture | Source – blog.beeper.com

It's free?

Beeper Mini will be free for the first seven days. After the 7-day free trial expires, the app will cost $1.99 per month. Beeper says the monthly cost of the app allows the team to continue improving the app by adding new features and, of course, earn money since the app will be ad-free. It's a small price to pay if the ability to use iMessage on Android is important to you.

What will happen to the original Beeper app and my RCS messages?

Beeper Mini can work with the Messages app on your Android device (or whatever your default SMS/RCS app is). Beeper Mini will only handle iMessage conversations and anything non-iMessage will continue to arrive through your default SMS/RCS app. This means you may need to use two apps – one for RCS and one for iMessage – on your Android device for the time being.

If this is a problem for you, you can always use Cloud of beeps, which is the new name of the original Beeper app. This app can integrate iMessage, RCS, and many other messaging apps you may be using. However, please note that the cloud app will require you to sign in with your Apple ID and have access to a Mac or PC for initial setup. These additional steps are not necessary on the Beeper Mini app since it connects directly to the remote network instead of using a server.

Beeper Product Roadmap | Source – blog.beeper.com

However, the Beeper product roadmap indicates that Beeper Mini will continue to expand by adding more iMessage features such as importing past chat history, Facetime audio and video calls, and scheduled messages. Additionally, the app will support Android OS's chat bubbles, SMS, WhatsApp, and Signal, as well as the other 10 unencrypted chat networks currently supported on the Beeper Cloud app, among others planned features.

Eventually, Beeper Mini will replace Beeper Cloud and everything will go back to being a single app called “Beeper”. A new Unified Messaging app that uses a more advanced security protocol and was developed with Android's Material Design in mind. You can download the app now from the Google Play Store without having to go through a waiting list.