This app brings iMessage to Android, and you can sign up to use it right now

By Babu Mohan
published

iMessage
iMessage (Image credit: Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky has introduced a new universal messaging app called Beeper.
  • The chat app supports nearly all the popular messaging services out there, including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal.
  • It also uses "some trickery" to allow Apple's iMessage to work on Android, Windows, and Linux platforms.

A new universal chat app called Beeper promises to bring you a unified inbox for 15 of the most popular messaging services out there, including Apple's iMessage. The app has been developed by a team that includes Eric Migicovsky, founder of former smartwatch brand Pebble.

Announcing the launch of the app on Twitter, Migicovsky said the app makes it possible for iMessage to work on Android, Windows, and Linux devices "using some trickery." Until now, iMessage has been available only on Apple's own devices. However, it is important to note that Beeper is a subscription service with a $10 monthly fee.

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An FAQ page on Beeper's website reveals the universal app has two ways of getting iMessage to work on Android, Windows, and Linux. If you own a Mac that's always connected to the internet, you can install the Beeper app on it to act as a bridge. If you don't have a Mac, Beeper says it will send each user a Jailbroken iPhone with the Beeper app installed to bridge to iMessage.

The app currently offers support for fifteen chat networks: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, iMessage, Android Messages, Telegram, Twitter, Slack, Hangouts, Instagram, Skype, IRC, Matrix, Discord, Signal, and Beeper network. Support for more chat networks will be coming in the near future, along with a dark mode.

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Babu Mohan
Babu Mohan
News Writer
19 Comments
  • This doesn't sound legal or ethical. If I wanted iMessage this badly I'd buy an iPhone.
  • If you have an always connected MAC to use as a bridge, I expect you already have an iPhone. (just a quess)
  • In fact I have an LG G8 and no I don't have a Mac. I think what I have a problem with is the use of a jailbroken iPhone. That tells you right there that Apple isn't onboard. Call me old fashioned but I think people should play by the rules and respect proprietary property.
  • What permissions does this require, LOL? Nice jebait. This is not imessage on Android. Apple will shut this down so fast. Not even sure why you would promote this.
  • Apple can't shut it down, it's running native iMessage on Apple hardware. This software just acts as a bridge between the non-apple device and the apple device. Apple wouldn't know the message came from anything other than its own client
  • A lot of people have been asking for something like this. I believe quite a few people will be willing to do this. I hope it succeeds.
  • You've always been able to use imessage onna mac and have it route to your phone using a server that runs 24/7. This is just an app that consolidates all messaging platforms into one app. This has been tried a bunch of times. I went to college with a friend who had a buddy who tried having a "one messenger to rule them all". Never really works out though....
  • I want iMessage on Android.. but I'm not willing to have someone send me a jailbroken phone to run all of my messages through for $10/month. I'll wait for Apple to do it right, or I'll suffer the consequences of loving my Android phone. This seems shady enough that Apple won't let it work for too long anyway..
  • Apple can't do anything about it, it's using actual apple hardware to do it, it's just a bridge to the iMessage app on either the jailbroken iPhone or a regular Mac. AirMessage has been able to do this for years and it uses the same bridge process. I've been using AirMessage since version 1 and never had an issue with it or Apple.
  • Rube Goldberg award winning apptraption. $10 a month plus managing a scraper apple device??? Eric developed this just for himself.
  • Paying those monthly fee will eventually add up to the price of a iPhone so, if want imessage that bad, then you might as well buy yourself an iphone.
  • Total click bate headline. AirMessage has been allowing iMessage on Android for a while. And Blue Bubbles now too. Both of those are pretty solid options. Similar, they both require a Mac server running.
  • You can do this now with AirMessage and the developer who created it is awesome. I've been using it since version 1 and the latest even takes out the work of creating your own port forwarding, dynamic dns...he created a cloud based setup that works right out the box. I got AirMessage running on a 2012 Mac mini and it's flawless. I only use it to send big attachments to my wife because she won't switch to Android and regular SMS compresses the hell out of photos where as AirMessage, being an iMessage client doesn't. Interface for Android is good and supports dark mode which is a must for me.
  • Why not just get your wife to install Google Photo's on her iPhone and then you can share the photos through that, without any compression. Wouldn't it be easier to have your wife install a legit app then have you using a "bridge" on a second device just to send photos/large attachments? I've looked into using Air Message in the past but it didn't seem like the hassle was worth it. Like many others have said, if I wanted iMessage that bad, I'd get an iPhone. To each their own, I guess.
  • All the hand wringing and pearl necklace clutching on this thread is comical. Calm down, ppl, it'll be okay.
  • Yeah..... No. The headline makes it sound like the holy grail of messaging apps that we've all been waiting for then the more you read the more ridicous it sounds. What a convoluted solution to a minor problem. Let's be honest the real holy grail is Apple IF and when they add an Android app of their own.
  • Selling solutions to a problem (monopolization) that shouldn't exist is so very Capitalism™
  • lawsuit is 3...2...1.... No idea why the guy would say that.
  • I like this message app