Their ability to bridge other networks may be useful to you. It’s what they did before the iMessage thing.
I agree though a ton of their possible demand is gone now due to that. Add in RCS later this year, and even if iMessage came back I’m not sure it would be worth it to many.
But hey. I didn’t know they existed before that. I do now. That’s something. I also distrust their judgement based on their actions. But I’m sure that not true for everyone who now knows they exist.
I use Beeper on Android to have one app through which I send messages on WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram etc. I never cared for iMessage support.
It works great for me. No support for complex things: calls, message requests, and probably a few more. But most days I don't need to open any other app, and when someone asks me which network they can contact I honestly just don't care anymore. They all look exactly the same on my phone.
How much would you think this degrades Signal security? I don't know exactly how the Signal bridge works, but Signal's putting so much effort into security and the people use it through an app like this one not vetted by Signal, it can't be too good I assume...
It was one of the features, but it's existed for a while outside of the iMessage support. It just got a lot of eyes on it when they got the iMessage hack working (which Apple broke last I heard, not sure the current state of it)
For me, the killer feature is being able to keep up with my various non-SMS/MMS/RCS conversations (with prompt notifications) without having to install the Facebook app et al
I switched from Android to iOS for the first time ever last month (was on Android since the very early 2010s), and I still use Beeper for everything but iMessages.
Curious how you're finding it so far? I mowed my Note20 Ultra in June of last year and replaced it with a 14 Pro Max then just last month went and swapped back to an S24 Ultra. I found Apple to be too restrictive. The OS level stuff was one thing but the app store lacking things like emulators or vape apps because "Apple said so" rubbed me the wrong way, whether I need them or not. Plus I like writing python on my phone.
I’m not doing anything super technical on my phone, so I can’t provide any opinion about things like code writing or testing from it.
I’ve found iOS 17 to be amazing so far on my 15 pro max. My only persistent irk is with the notification management. If a notification pops up that I don’t care to interact with, I’d like the option to swipe it away and have it actually go away. Instead, that initial banner can only be swiped up to make it go to the Notification Center, where it has to be swiped away or opened.
Everything else about the device is phenomenal for me. Battery life (even capped at 80%), 1Password integration, Focus Modes, and Shortcuts.
Their ability to bridge other networks may be useful to you. It’s what they did before the iMessage thing.
I agree though a ton of their possible demand is gone now due to that. Add in RCS later this year, and even if iMessage came back I’m not sure it would be worth it to many.
But hey. I didn’t know they existed before that. I do now. That’s something. I also distrust their judgement based on their actions. But I’m sure that not true for everyone who now knows they exist.