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EliasChao @lemmy.one

2y ago

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini’s access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android | TechCrunch

Technology @beehaw.org

Lee Duna @lemmy.nz

2y ago

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android

techcrunch.com /2023/12/08/apple-cuts-off-beeper-minis-access-after-launch-of-service-that-brought-imessage-to-android/

Hacker News @lemmy.smeargle.fans

bot @lemmy.smeargle.fans

2y ago

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

techcrunch.com /2023/12/08/apple-cuts-off-beeper-minis-access-after-launch-of-service-that-brought-imessage-to-android/

Hacker News @derp.foo

haxor @derp.foo

2y ago

Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

techcrunch.com /2023/12/08/apple-cuts-off-beeper-minis-access-after-launch-of-service-that-brought-imessage-to-android/

29 comments

Isn’t it funny that every tech commenter was like “Apple would have to re-engineer their whole iMessage stack if they want to cut off access to Beeper Mini”?
- That would seem to imply that tech commenters know less than Apple about Apple’s own servers. Shocking.
  My bet is that is if Apple comments at all, they will talk about closing a security vulnerability rather than cutting off android users.
  
  You would have be dumb enough to buy apple products to believe that.
  
  My bet is that is Apple comments at all, they will talk about closing a security vulnerability rather than cutting off android users.
  Aaaand you were right!
- Why would Apple have to reverse engineer their own protocol?
  
  Re- not reverse-engineer.
Gotta keep up the social pressure to bully more people into buying iPhones.
- No one bullies anyone. It’s a choice.
  
  You're right. Bullying is a choice.
  
  I don't think you've been around a group of American teenagers recently. There's a point where people stop caring, but people absolutely are borderline bullied of for not having an iPhone lol
  
  It is an issue among teens in the US.
With pypush the error seems to come when generating validaiton data (it either gets stuck endlessly or shows a error saying no cert found). Pypush is still able to communicate with apples sms gateway (and the gateway still sends sms replies). Additionally 2fa codes are still triggered and sent.
The weirdest part is even if you import your own real mac serial (data.plist) the same issue arises (I tried with my personal 2011 mac mini).
I wonder if the issue specifically relates to pypush trying to spoof a m1 mac using a intel mac serial, or the uncanny vally of registering a phone number through a mac serial.
That didn’t take long. Unsurprised though.
This is the second service in as many weeks to be shut down offering this service, right?
- Yep; different circumstances though.
  Beeper Mini was shut down by Apple, which allegedly identified the requests from Beeper Mini and terminated access to its servers.
  Nothing Chat/Sunbird, on the other hand, was shut down from themselves, because they were caught mishandling user information. The method itself was not shut down, rather they discontinued their own implementation. (Fwiw, Beeper has a similar implementation on another product of theirs, which remains functional as far as I know. )
  
  It’s down as well.
Good. Beeper Mini was a gross hack based on an edge case trick that they shouldn’t have been charging for.
- It wasn’t really a hack though so much as it manipulated the way it identifies itself to Apples servers. Apple obviously changed something there in retaliation so it’s not working now, but depending on the severity of the change they could get around this.
  Honestly though it won’t last long. Eric has a history of being overly ambitious and it’s why Pebble failed.

29 comments