(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. said Saturday that it has terminated a third-party application that allowed Android devices to communicate with iPhone users using the iMessage service.
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“We have taken steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials to access iMessage,” the iPhone maker said in a statement. It added: “These techniques pose significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata leaks and the potential for unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks.”
The company said it will continue to make changes to protect users. The announcement comes a day after Beeper Mini, the latest app to enable iMessage on Android devices, stopped working. Apple’s iMessage provides encrypted messaging between iPhones, Macs, iPads and other devices made by the company, but the company has resisted calls to expand the service to Android for nearly a decade.
Some users have long argued that the lack of an iMessage app for Android makes messaging between the two platforms less secure. Apple recently announced that it will support RCS (Rich Communication Services) later next year. This replaces the standard SMS service and provides a better cross-platform texting experience.
Read more: Apple adopts texting standard that works on Android
Beeper was founded by Eric Migicovsky, best known for developing the Pebble smartwatch years before the Apple Watch and as a member of Y Combinator, the most prestigious business incubator in the tech industry.
Migikowski said in an interview that his new company continues to work on Beeper Mini and is “pleased” to once again avoid Apple’s restrictions. He said that Beeper Cloud, a variant of Beeper Mini, is still functional. He said Beeper Mini is more secure and connects directly to Apple’s services, while Beeper Cloud uses third-party servers.
“The passion and energy of people this week shows the importance of what we’re doing,” Migikowski said. He denies that Beeper Mini poses any security issues for users, saying that his app allows encrypted messaging between Android and iOS, so it’s a false notion that it’s less secure. said.
Migicovsky said he hasn’t heard anything from Apple about his service, but he was selling Beeper Mini as a $1.99 monthly subscription after a one-week free trial. Apple doesn’t charge a subscription to use his iMessage on its devices.
Apple said it cannot verify whether messages sent through unauthorized systems pretending to use Apple credentials are actually end-to-end encrypted. Other services have previously attempted to make iMessage work on Android, including one called Sunbird. These efforts were also discontinued by Apple.
Despite adding support for RCS next year, Apple executives have publicly and privately shot down the idea of āāmaking it easier for iOS and Android users to communicate. Last year, Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested that users who wanted to more easily message their moms on Android should buy an iPhone.
In an email to fellow executives several years ago, Apple’s head of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said, “iMessage on Android is a barrier to iPhone families giving their children Android phones.” It will only serve to remove the
The company’s operating system is set to be further opened up in the European Union next year under the Digital Markets Act, which will require Apple to allow third-party app stores in the region.
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