Apple bans iMessage accounts linked to Beeper app
Beeper, an app used by a few thousand Android users to access iMessage on their smartphone, has recently halted any new iMessage account integrations.
Reported by The New York Times, users of the app reported that their iMessage accounts were banned by Apple. Specifically, 30 users reported that iMessage no longer worked as their Apple account had been flagged for spam.
Beeper enables users to set up iMessage on a Mac computer and link it to their Beeper account on an Android phone. This essentially mimics iMessage on the Android device, allowing users to access features like animated texts and others that are locked to the iMessage service.
Beeper Mini, an Android app from the same company, was rendered unusable in early December 2023 after Apple changed how its iMessage service worked. However, Beeper updated its service on December 21 and enabled the Mac-based workaround. (Previously, Beeper used its own Mac computers for the service.)
Beeper announced on X (formerly known as Twitter) that it disabled the ability to sync an iMessage account with the Beeper service starting January 26th. As of press time, it seems that setting up a new iMessage account on Beeper is still not possible, though existing connections still work.
Beeper also reported that Apple had unbanned iMessage for affected users, but only after the article from The New York Times was published.
As of now, it seems that the bridge closing the gap between green bubbles and blue bubbles has been demolished and may never be rebuilt.
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