Does it matter to you that iMessage is now compatible with Android phones?

People like to use messaging apps, and that goes without saying. You have WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and even Instagram to some extent. But when you talk about closed platform apps, you can rely on iMessage for iPhones and RCS for Android devices. Apple’s history and strategy meant that iMessage never came to Android.

So it had always been a third-party hand that could bring iMessage to Android users, which happened through Sunbird and now Beeper Mini. The latest updates point to a fundamental problem with trying to bring a closed platform to Android that Apple clearly doesn’t like.

Beeper Mini claims to have written code for iMessage from scratch, allowing it to be used on Android, but Apple has the actual rights to send the iMessage content that Beeper Mini used to cheat. So it was clear that when the iMessage for Android app got so much attention, Apple was quick to plug the loopholes and prevent Android users from accessing it.

But here’s the thing, how many Android users really want iMessage? If you go through the data, WhatsApp is the clear winner, compatible with both Android and iOS. Then you also have things like Signal, Telegram and a few others. We’ve been hearing lately about Google’s RCS chats, which Apple plans to bring to the iPhone in 2024 after regulatory pressure.

So if someone says iMessage on Android is a big miss, they’re not part of the majority. Now, considering the US user base, most of them are using iPhones, which means that iMessage comes by default for them. Are they unable to chat with their Android friends? Not at all, and that’s where apps like WhatsApp come into play. Some of you are right about Apple’s apparent attempt to block the service, but when it’s done without Apple’s permission, these events were bound to happen.

After following the Beeper Mini episode for the last few weeks where the app was blocked from working through the iMessage server, it has become apparent that this Android app for iMessage is not worth the time and effort, especially when you have better options that work on both platforms.