Apple cuts off Beeper Mini’s access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android
Apple cuts off Beeper Mini’s access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android
Was it too good to be true? Beeper, the startup that reverse-engineered iMessage to bring blue bubble texts to Android users, is experiencing an outage,
Isn’t it funny that every tech commenter was like “Apple would have to re-engineer their whole iMessage stack if they want to cut off access to Beeper Mini”?
26That would seem to imply that tech commenters know less than Apple about Apple’s own servers. Shocking.
My bet is that is if Apple comments at all, they will talk about closing a security vulnerability rather than cutting off android users.
23My bet is that is Apple comments at all, they will talk about closing a security vulnerability rather than cutting off android users.
Aaaand you were right!
4
The thing with this service is, if I understand it correctly, that they were using someone else’s device ID to send messages.
So, say for example that someone started using my Mac Mini’s ID (my Mac being located in Madrid, Spain) to send iMessages in the US….
People expected Apple not noticing it?
It worked when it was some hacker’s project because at that time, a few stolen Apple device IDs didn’t raise too many red flags. But at a large scale, and used by a company, it may be easy for Apple to detect.
And don’t be fooled: the system worked by stealing someone else’s legitimate device ID, and pose as it to send messages to the system. So, this company could be making money by using you Apple device ID. I’m not ok with that.
6
With pypush the error seems to come when generating validaiton data (it either gets stuck endlessly or shows a error saying no cert found). Pypush is still able to communicate with apples sms gateway (and the gateway still sends sms replies). Additionally 2fa codes are still triggered and sent.
The weirdest part is even if you import your own real mac serial (data.plist) the same issue arises (I tried with my personal 2011 mac mini).
I wonder if the issue specifically relates to pypush trying to spoof a m1 mac using a intel mac serial, or the uncanny vally of registering a phone number through a mac serial.
8That didn’t take long. Unsurprised though.
8This is the second service in as many weeks to be shut down offering this service, right?
6Yep; different circumstances though.
Beeper Mini was shut down by Apple, which allegedly identified the requests from Beeper Mini and terminated access to its servers.
Nothing Chat/Sunbird, on the other hand, was shut down from themselves, because they were caught mishandling user information. The method itself was not shut down, rather they discontinued their own implementation. (Fwiw, Beeper has a similar implementation on another product of theirs, which remains functional as far as I know. )
14It’s down as well.
2I use Beeper Cloud and iMessage functionality is broken on it too as things stand.
1
Gotta keep up the social pressure to bully more people into buying iPhones.
-1No one bullies anyone. It’s a choice.
-1
Good. Beeper Mini was a gross hack based on an edge case trick that they shouldn’t have been charging for.
-2Permanently Deleted
9It wasn’t really a hack though so much as it manipulated the way it identifies itself to Apples servers. Apple obviously changed something there in retaliation so it’s not working now, but depending on the severity of the change they could get around this.
Honestly though it won’t last long. Eric has a history of being overly ambitious and it’s why Pebble failed.
1