Beeper Removes Beeper Mini App from Google Play Store Following iMessage Controversy: Report

The Beeper team officially announced the removal of the app from the Play Store on Thursday through a message to Beeper Cloud users.

Beeper Mini has been involved in a long-running saga of promising to facilitate iMessage to Android users, getting blocked by Apple, and finding repeated workarounds to make the service work. The messaging platform seems to be running out of options now, as the Beeper Mini app has reportedly been removed from Google Play Store. The latest development follows an announcement from the Beeper team last month that said the app had received its final update, pretty much giving up the fight to make iMessages reliably work on Android phones.

According to a report from 9to5Google, the standalone Beeper Mini app, which enables blue bubbles iMessage texting on Android phones, has been removed from the Play Store. The Beeper team announced the decision officially Thursday via a message to Beeper Cloud users.

The iMessage feature from Beeper Mini has also been moved to the ‘Labs’ section in the Beeper Cloud app. “We have moved iMessage to ‘Labs’ in Beeper Cloud and removed Beeper Mini from the Play Store,” the message to Beeper Cloud users reportedly said. While the Beeper Mini app is no longer available to download from Google’s storefront, it can still be sideloaded via the apk file available on the Beeper website. Beeper Cloud is still available on the Play Store.

Additionally, Eric Migicovsky, the cofounder of Beeper also provided further update on the company’s roadmap in the announcement message. According to the report, the company is working to add 14 other chat networks to the Beeper Mini Android app, which it calls its number 1 priority. “It’s a completely new app, with a new design, built for top speed and performance,” the message reportedly added. The company also said that improvements to the Beeper desktop app are on the way, including a performance boost.

Last month, Beeper announced a final update for the Mini app on its blog. After multiple workarounds and fixes to get iMessage working stably on Android phones, the company admitted that its efforts were “unsustainable” in the long term. The company said it was no longer going to issue fixes for its app if Apple were to disrupt the service. “As much as we want to fight for what we believe is a fantastic product that really should exist, the truth is that we can’t win a cat-and-mouse game with the largest company on earth,” the Beeper team said.

Apple, which has constantly blocked Beeper’s efforts to run iMessage on Android phones, has claimed that the Beeper Mini app poses “significant risks to user security and privacy.” The Beeper team, however, denies that claim, accusing Apple instead of monopolising the iMessage service to sell more iPhone.

In December 2023, Beeper Mini, following its launch, subsequent blockage by Apple, and subsequent workaround, revealed that a new fix allowing iMessage on Android phones would necessitate Beeper users to access a Mac for registration.