You can finally use iMessage on Android with this smart app but it’ll cost you

(Image credit: Future)

Despite companies like Nothing failing to do so just last month, one rather clever app has just figured out how to get iMessage running on an Android phone, as long as you are willing to pay the subscription fee.

Entitled ‘Beeper Mini’, Android users can download the app from the Play Store right now, where they are given 7 days for free before the $2 monthly fee kicks in. You’re paying for more than just a blue bubble with this app – you get the ability to join Apple-only chats, can send ‘Full size photos and videos, plus replies and reactions’, and it's end-to-end encrypted, meaning your messages are safe and secure.

As originally reported by The Verge, the basis of this app actually came from a high school student who formed the start of the app at just 16 years old. Beeper CEO, Eric Migicovsky realized his solution worked and decided to turn it into the fully-fledged app that exists now. Unlike the Nothing app and Beeper’s previous attempts, the workaround this app uses is all within the app. Your account is still registered to you and sent from the Android phone to Apple’s servers without Beeper touching it.

How to use iMessage on Android with Beeper Mini

A natural workaround — iMore’s take

Just last month, Google wrote to the European Commission, urging them to call iMessage a ‘Gatekeeper’, essentially forcing Apple to make its messaging services available to those outside the ecosystem. For someone buying a new iPhone, it’s one of the little incentives you get for putting all that cash down but Google feels it locks users on both sides from communicating effectively. This is hard to fully believe given the myriad of chat services that many users use simultaneously.

iMessage is effectively an optional service, and apps and settings don’t really push users towards using it. Globally, few will use it as their main messaging service and even fewer will use it exclusively. Besides this, the innovations coming from Android developers prove that, no matter how it happens, Android users will one day get their hands on the service. These kinds of services feel like a much more natural conclusion than heavy-handed wide-scale regulations. At least I can now invite my Android friends to new group chats.

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James is a staff writer and general Jack of all trades at iMore. With news, features, reviews, and guides under his belt, he has always liked Apple for its unique branding and distinctive style. Originally buying a Macbook for music and video production, he has since gone on to join the Apple ecosystem with as many devices as he can fit on his person.

With a degree in Law and Media and being a little too young to move onto the next step of his law career, James started writing from his bedroom about games, movies, tech, and anything else he could think of. Within months, this turned into a fully-fledged career as a freelance journalist. Before joining iMore, he was a staff writer at Gfinity and saw himself published at sites like TechRadar, NME, and Eurogamer.

As his extensive portfolio implies, James was predominantly a games journalist before joining iMore and brings with him a unique perspective on Apple itself. When not working, he is trying to catch up with the movies and albums of the year, as well as finally finishing the Yakuza series. If you like Midwest emo music or pretentious indie games that will make you cry, he’ll talk your ear off.