this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2023
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Beeper reverse-engineered iMessage to bring blue bubble texts to Android users::The push to bring iMessage to Android users today adds a new contender. A startup called Beeper, which had been working on a multi-platform messaging

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 11 months ago (22 children)

i had no idea that having green chat bubbles upset people so much.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 11 months ago (45 children)

The issue isn't so much the message color. It's the ability to send videos that aren't potato quality and other media.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago (8 children)

I've seen a lot of people complain online about getting dropped by a tinder date/etc because they swapped numbers and the other person realized they didn't have an iPhone from the green text. Probably best not to date someone who would drop you over that, but there's a weird elitism over blue/green texts.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

Attempting to get a date in the current US scene was hard enough without this petty bullshit. While it was certainly disheartening to see another one slip away, knowing I was dodging a bullet was worth the time. I did enjoy (only once) getting "ugh green bubbles? Srs?" And sliding back "yeah sorry I have a Fold#, iPhones r for brokies" and blocking the contact

(People are free to own iPhone and you're free to make your own descicions or debate the merits of android/iphone, I am more just intolerant of the fan elitism - not iPhone owners in general, hope you have a nice day)

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Weird, is that an excursively US American thing? I am European and have never experienced "phone racism".

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It has started in Sweden with younger generations that wants to replicate everything from the US.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've never heard of that, that's kinda hilarious and really helps them dodge a bullet.

Apple has spent a significant amount of effort over creating a sense of elitism for using its products but that's largely unique to the western world. Most of the world uses android devices by far.

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[–] [email protected] 45 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It’s not just about the color of the bubbles. I have Wi-Fi at work but poor cell signal. Because I have an iPhone and my husband has an android, we have to use another chat client to text while I’m at work. No cell signal means no texting android phones for me, because I can only text people with iMessage over Wi-Fi.

Plus, remember: kids have phones. They do get bullied over chat bubble colors, just like I got bullied for wearing clothes from Walmart in school. It doesn’t have to be this way, it’s Apple’s fault for making iMessage a walled garden.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Is it even a garden though? I don't see any benefit in using it over something like Signal other than it coming pre-installed on your phone.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Sure, but they wont. The insidious thing about iMessenger is that it isnt iChat. It is the apple default text messaging app. Which is good because it means that all your messages are in one place, and you dont have to try to convince your older family member to install a 3rd party chat app. You just have a chat app. This tricks users not into thinking that texting is just better on apple.

But its bad because it only works between other apple products and users. This is objectively Apple's shortcoming, however there are enough iPhones in the wild and enough people in the US who defaulted to just hitting the sms/mms icon instead of downloading a chat app that the odd man out might be the android user. And it's not just about the green bubble being green. If you invite an a green bubble to a group text then all your rich chat messenger features go away and it turns into an MMS thread. Which is objectively bad.

But yes they could just download and use whatsapp,line, telegram, signal, facebook messenger(and in the early days things like aim/yim/msn) But they dont. The fact is their default messenger app works, and it works well with most people they talk to so the problem is the green text.

It's especially silly when you consider the "there's an app for that" generation of user and so many things are apps but they refuse to engage on other chat channels. People download different apps to get dates, the navigate, to browse websites that shouldnt even be apps, to order food, order groceries, order taxi's, but a chat app just to talk with you? ehhhhhhhhh.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Why is this even a need to be solved? are people that stupidly superficial about the color of y fucking message bubble? (im not american but where im from literally nobody wiorth their salt gives a hoot)

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

are people that stupidly superficial

Yes.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

The color of the bubble is only important because it helps iPhone users know who not to add to group chats, since the presence of a non-imessage user in an iMessage group chat downgrades the entire chat to grainy photos, no reactions/ read receipts, voice memos, typing indicators, etc. I don't blame them at all, many of them don't use any third party messaging apps because iMessage is built in and gives them everything that other chat apps have, with the benefit that they don't have to convince anybody to install it because all their iPhone owning friends have it preinstalled.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

are people that stupidly superficial about the color of y fucking message bubble?

Yes, apparently.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Assuming that it’s actually reverse engineered, this is great news. If not, there’s a massive lawsuit brewing.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

Seems like Beeper will see the cleartext of the replies, though, since they send the notifications via BPNs, right?

[edit: thanks for the replies. I see now the footnote on their BPNs diagram: “Push notification does not contain message contents” so it seems like the answer is “no they will not”]

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

No, they know that a message has been received, but the phone is what decrypts the message. Beeper can't see it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

No, with this new app messages are encrypted between you and Apple's iMessage servers using iMessage encryption more or less the same way an iPhone does.

The push service simply notifies your device it has a message waiting, no message content passes through Beeper servers.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (4 children)

It still needs Apple's servers, which tells me they will try and find a way to shut it down. Now that Apple is going to implement RCS, I care a lot less about this.

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