Beeper is a new useful app that centralizes all your messaging platforms into one convenient hub. Discord, WhatsApp, Slack, iMessage, Twitter, Instagram — you name it — can be consolidated into one app.
According to the official website, the Beeper app can be used on your PC or phone. You'll also have the option to archive messages, search for conversations and "snooze" specific apps.
Beeper: the all-in-one app for all of your chat platforms
The Beeper app, created by Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky, currently supports 15 chat apps: Instagram, Twitter, Discord, WhatsApp, Facebook, Slack, Skype, SMS, Telegram, Hangouts, IRC, Matrix, Signal, Beeper network and iMessage. If you're wondering if iMessage will work on Android, Windows and Linux devices via Beeper, the answer is yes.
"Beeper has two ways of enabling Android, Windows and Linux users to use iMessage: we send each user a Jailbroken iPhone with the Beeper app installed which bridges to iMessage, or if they have a Mac that is always connected to the internet, they can install the Beeper Mac app which acts as a bridge. This is not a joke, it really works!" Beeper's official website said.
In other words, Mac users will have to leave their device on 24/7 to forward messages to the Beeper app. For Beeper users without Apple hardware, Migicovsky plans to upcycle older, jailbroken iPhones and send them to paying customers.
Yes! That is EXACTLY what we're doing. I have 50 iPhone 4s sitting here at my desk.January 20, 2021
Don't worry; jailbreaking iPhones is lawful. Migicovsky may want to watch out for Apple, though; the company is known for being litigious. "Apple strongly cautions against installing any software that hacks iOS. It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of iOS is a violation of the iOS end-user software license agreement," the Cupertino-based tech giant wrote in a blog post.
Migicovsky will likely implement limitations on the number of subscribers who can use his Beeper service since it is dependent on the number of iPhones he has on hand. As such, when you click on "Get Started" on Beeper's website, you will be directed to a survey that asks which apps you use daily. After that, you'll see the following message:
"Over the last 24 hours, we have had a record number of people interested in using Beeper. Our focus is on providing the best possible chat experience for our users. In practice, this means that we are working our way through the list one-by-one and on-boarding users as fast as possible."
As 9to5Mac pointed out, there is concern about whether the Beeper platform is secure. Beeper's official website doesn't mention anything about end-to-end encryption, which prevents hackers and malicious third parties from accessing users' private messages. On the plus side, Beeper is built on Matrix, an open-source, federated messaging protocol that is equipped with end-to-end encryption. Hopefully, this privacy protection is applied to all communication channels on Beeper, too.
Beeper is a subscription service that will set you back $10 a month. While I get the appeal of having one's messages centralized in one app, sending jailbroken iPhones to customers is a peculiar business model that I want no parts of.
