By Trey Price, American Consumer Institute
The blue and green text bubbles have become iconic pop culture references to distinguish Android and Apple users. An app by Beeper called Beeper Mini closes this divide by allowing Android users to send messages through iMessage. Predictably, this spurred a ban from Apple. While Beeper Mini fills a gap that has long been requested, market pressures push Apple to improve interoperability without sacrificing its control over the Apple ecosystem, making the company popular with consumers.
It is common knowledge at this point that texts between iPhones use the iMessage program and show up as blue texts, whereas texts between iPhones and Androids show up as standard text messages. However, there is a lot more going on under the surface. iMessage is a messaging system specifically for Apple devices and encrypts text messages between users so only the people sending and receiving messages can see their content. Even Apple is locked out of it.
iMessage is a closed system, so only Apple devices can access it. When texting a non-Apple device, the texts are sent via SMS or Short Message Service, a far less secure text messaging standard dating back to the 1980s that has character limits per text and lacks many features modern messenger systems have.
Beeper Mini enabled Android users to access Apple’s protocol and send blue bubble messages. This works by connecting through Apple’s Push Notification system and then sending the message to the Android device using the app. Effectively, this process mimics an iPhone to gain access to the iMessage system.
Apple responded to Beeper’s announcement by making changes to their system to close the loophole that Beeper Mini took advantage of, citing the security risk of allowing users outside Apple’s network to access the system. Beeper Mini managed to bring back some functionality, but as of writing this, messages are exchanged through the user’s Apple email account rather than directly through text messages.
Following Apple’s changes to its systems to block Beeper Mini from accessing iMessage, numerous responses have criticized the move. Beeper themselves argued that their system was more secure than the current default way iPhones and Androids text each other through SMS and that their app did not rely on fake credentials as Apple claimed and did not compromise end-to-end encryption.
The dispute also gained attention from people outside the tech industry, such as Senator Warren, who accused Apple of trying to protect their profits by keeping competition out and calling for easier texting between different types of phones.
While there are difficulties in communications between iPhones and Android phones, the way Beeper tried to satisfy this demand undermines Apple’s value-add. Apple’s closed ecosystem allows the company to control the user’s experience and has created a seamless experience when using iPhones and other Apple devices.
This streamlined experience and simplicity of use are benefits of closed ecosystems such as Apple’s, and it has paid off, with 92% of iPhone users being either very satisfied or satisfied with their phone. With Apple’s products being designed to work together in a specific way, third-party apps like Beeper Mini introduce a new unknown element into this otherwise closed system, alarming Apple about the possible implications of anonymous users being able to trick their systems.
That’s not to say that there is no way to improve upon the current system, market demand seems to be pushing Apple to find solutions to texting between iPhones and Androids. Apple has announced they plan on adopting the much more secure RCS or Rich Communication Service standard for text messages, which will likely improve interoperability between phone services and bring features currently missing from SMS-based texting, such as high-quality media sharing and the ability to react to messages.
Apple’s agreeing to adopt this standard for texts between iPhones and Androids signals that market pressure is working and that the company will create a better experience without losing the interconnectedness of the systems that characterize Apple products.
Apple drew criticism for blocking Beeper Mini but considering how Apple’s ecosystem is designed to work, it is understandable that the company would be uncomfortable with a third party gaining access. While there is a demand for better communication between iPhones and Androids, market pressures are encouraging Apple to fill the gap in a way that works to improve consumers’ texting experience without opening their system to unknown factors.
Trey Price is a technology policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information, visit https://www.theamericanconsumer.org/ or follow us on X @ConsumerPal.