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Fun while it lasted – Beeper Mini's grand iMessage experiment is officially over

Beeper Mini is officially no more. The developer is calling it quits in trying to find new workarounds for bringing iMessage to Android devices.

Instead, Beeper would much rather work on its own projects and achieve its goal “of building the best chat app on Earth.” The developer goes on to state in a recent announcement post that every time Beeper Mini goes offline or is made worthless because of Apple’s meddling, its credibility takes a hit, adding it’s unsustainable to continue like this. It admits that it just “can’t win a cat-and-mouse game with the largest company on Earth”. It’s just not worth the hassle anymore. They would rather move on. 

The final workaround

There is a final workaround available although it is very convoluted. The process requires you to first own a Mac or Linux computer (a Raspberry Pi works as well) with the Beeper desktop app installed and a jailbroken iPhone. 

You plug the iPhone into the computer then run certain commands in the Terminal tool. You will need to install an app called Palera1n along the way. Eventually, you will install Beeper Mini onto the smartphone in order to receive an iMessage registration code for your Android device. Then and only then, will you be able to use the service as intended. Also, the iPhone at the heart of all this must be connected to your Wi-Fi and turned on at all times, according to TheVerge.

That's the basic rundown. We glossed over a lot of the more elaborate steps involving Palera1n. What’s more, if your Mac is equipped with Apple silicon, you may have to unplug the iPhone when the word “Checkmate!” appears otherwise the workaround presumably fails. Beeper doesn’t explain why you need to disconnect the device. As we said earlier, this whole thing is convoluted.  

Beeper Mini's future

If you don’t own a jailbroken iPhone, you can buy one from Beeper. Prices range from $30 to $60. Or you can rent one for “several dollars per month”. You will however need to sign up and fill out a special form on the developer’s website before renting or buying. Interested users will need to act fast because it looks like the service will stop at the end of the year. But “if there is enough interest”, Beeper will extend the program into the new year.

This solution, as crazy as it may seem, is the final method. If Apple decides to block it, the developer says it won’t make another. Again, it’s not worth the hassle in their eyes. That said, Beeper believes it managed to create a workaround that the tech giant is willing to “tolerate”, although whether or not this is true remains to be seen.

Goodbye, Beeper Mini; we hardly knew ye.

While we have you check out TechRadar's list of the best encrypted messaging apps for Android.

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