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When Beeper Mini launched earlier this month, it was a pretty big deal. The company was able to reverse-engineer a way to get iMessage working on Android without the need for an old Mac or other Apple device nor needing to login to your Apple ID. Of course, that didn’t last long.
Now, after a few different methods have been blocked by Apple, Beeper has detailed its latest route for getting iMessage to work on Android. The blog post actually went live yesterday but was quickly removed. Today, the blog post is back up.
According to Beeper, the catch here is that you will need access to an old iPhone or Mac or someone who has access to a Mac. Basically, Beeper wants you to get an old iPhone (preferably an iPhone X or earlier – one that is not getting new iOS updates). Beeper then details how you can jailbreak the iPhone to install a Beeper tool that will generate an iMessage registration code. Then you’ll be able to set up Beeper Mini and enter your code. That will allow phone number registration to work. You’ll need to keep the iPhone plugged into power at home, connected to WiFi.
The other option is going to be to set up Beeper Desktop on a Mac. Use your iMessage registration code to set up Beeper Mini, and you’ll be on your way.
But it gets even crazier, Beeper will rent jailbroken iPhones to you
If you don’t have an old iPhone, which many of us don’t, then Beeper has a resolution for that too. There’s a form that you can fill out to rent (for a few dollars per month) or buy an old iPhone with the app pre-loaded, which Beeper will sell you for $30 to $50 per month. Beeper says that this service will be available in the new year.
Why is Beeper doing this? Well, previously, it was using its own fleet of Mac servers to provide identification information called ‘registration data’ from a real Mac for iMessage registration. But as we’ve seen earlier this week, Apple has figured that out and started to block those Macs.
So now, with Beeper Cloud (Mac version) and old iPhones, they can generate unique registration data just for you. Beeper says that in their testing, this has made the connection very reliable. And if you use Beeper Mini, you can use your Mac registration data with it as well, and Beeper Mini will start to work again. Unfortunately, Beeper does need to periodically regenerate this data after you’ve connected, roughly once per week or month, which is why the Mac or iPhone needs to be switched on regularly.
It’s not perfect, but it does work. It likely won’t be long before Apple blocks this method as well, however.