So, it got beat down by Apple, sold, and now it's open to all? Brilliant.
this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2024
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To be honest, I'm not sure what they were thinking when they released their reverse-engineered iMessage app. But I'm hoping they're back on two solid feet and will get back to focusing on their original mission because it'll mean more open source contributions back to the matrix project.
I'm not super excited about them getting bought, but at the same time I think it's better than the alternative. Beeper's CEO (now former after being bought) is infamous for creating the startup, Pebble, then running it into the ground by not selling it. As unfortunate as it is, the reality is that companies, even ones based on open source projects, can't survive without funding.
One positive that came out of the iMessage fiasco was that it brought mainstream attention to Apple's anticompetitive behavior.
What are people's thoughts on Beeper as an app? I haven't used an all-in-one messenger since Trillian back in the day, and while I do like not having to trust less secure/private apps like WhatsApp and Discord I don't know if I'd trust it over Signal.
Using an all-in-one messenger like Beeper will always be less secure than using standalone apps because it can introduce another vector for attack. That being said, I believe Beeper is trying their hardest to stop "middle manning" your messages. For example, in their newest Android client they have an on-device Signal bridge which means your messages never get sent to Beeper's servers.
Personally, I am happy with the convenience of Beeper. I use it every day with multiple IM services linked and it has saved me a lot of time. I also love that Beeper is built on matrix and that they're contributing back to the open source community.
If security is your prime concern, then I definitely wouldn't use an "all-in-one" messenger service.
Closed source?
Yes, Beeper's apps are all closed source. But they do contribute a lot of their improvements back to the matrix community. For example, they've contributed quite a few performance improvements to the Synapse homeserver. They're also involved in getting new features supported on matrix such as media captions.
https://github.com/beeper/bridge-manager
the bridges, and the server components still looks apache 2.0, so you could still self host if this is your kind of crazy, just make sure you use a open source matrix client.
Anyone who cares about privacy and security shouldn't be running a closed source app that emulates other people's networks server side.
I would love to use this but... I'm just not sure about its privacy and security. I'll wait it out and maybe jump in a few months later.
Also it seems you can self-host it. The bridges are open source: https://github.com/beeper
You can self host the bridges, but a lot of the "magic" happens on their clients. But if you're okay with a bit of inconvenience in setting up and bridging services, self-hosting bridges is definitely possible using another matrix client.
Dang I will have to revisit if I want to use beeper. I joined the waitlist months ago and never heard anything, messed with beeper mini for 2 weeks to chat with my family which has only iPhones and that was a good experience. I only want the imessage bridge feature not sure I want to combine all my chats into one app.
But... if you have an android phone and others people are using iPhones, you can still send them SMS and they can answer with SMS, no?
Anyone remember Disa? They had a solid app, but development on it seemed to fizzle.