Apple definitely doesn’t want to let owners of Android devices access its network iMessage. The Beeper Mini app, which promised exactly that, has just been rendered inoperable.
This (unfortunately) did not last long. While just a few days ago, the company Beeper announced that it had successfully developed an iMessage application for Android, access to the latter has just been cut off. Beeper Mini, as it was nicknamed, relied on reverse engineering to transform Android smartphones into Apple phones in the eyes of the company’s servers. This was not enough, since Apple tightened the screws, arguing that such a system posed “security issues“.
Bye-Bye Beeper Mini
More precisely, Apple’s communications department explained that it had “taken steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit false credentials to access iMessage.» According to the company, these methods “posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including exposing metadata and allowing spam messages to be sent.»
THE “fake credentials» which Apple is talking about here seems to refer to the fictitious iCloud accounts created by the Beeper Mini application. During the presentation, with great fanfare, of his new application, the CEO of Beeper assured the public that it was almost impossible to cut off access to Beeper without bringing the entire iMessage system to its knees. So it seems that Apple has indeed figured out how to do it.
Apple wants to escape interoperability injunctions
It’s no coincidence that Apple is struggling to maintain control of iMessage. Beyond the security risks mentioned (note that Beeper claimed that all messages were encrypted), the company has always refused to make its messaging interoperable, arguing that it is a selling point to convince users of buy an iPhone rather than an Android phone.
Recently, pressure from the European DSA has raised faint hopes that iMessage will open up to competition, but it appears that the app is not popular enough to be forced to obey European obligations.
Recently, Apple still deigned to make its iPhones compatible with the new RCS communication standard (which Google had been pushing for years), but it seems that the firm is not ready to go further, convinced that it will be able to way to evade European rules.
Source : The Verge
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