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Beeper Mini is down, and we're learning what that will mean for its future
- Days after its launch, Beeper Mini has gone down.
- Beeper representatives say the error is on its servers’ end, so all we can do is wait.
- This outage forebodes a rocky future for the paid chat app.
Today, Beeper Mini is experiencing a significant outage. A thread on Reddit suggests the outage affects pretty much everyone who uses the app. Thankfully, a representative from Beeper says in that thread that the problem is on the server side, and the team is working to rectify it as soon as possible. There’s no explanation for the outage yet, but a recent episode of the WVFRM podcast discussing Beeper Mini at length may be part of the problem, as Beeper is likely experiencing a massive influx of new users.
Interestingly, the Beeper status page shows all systems are normal, with even a 100% uptime notice for the past 90 days.
While chat apps go down all the time, Beeper Mini is under more scrutiny than most. Although all users are still in a free trial period, the app will eventually cost them $1.99 each month to use. An app you use for free going down is one thing, but an app you pay to use going down is a whole other situation.
Likewise, Beeper Mini is built on a reverse-engineered version of iMessage, which is what allows it to support Android users communicating “natively” with iPhone users. Although Beeper is confident it is not breaking any laws with this and is also quite sure Apple won’t do anything about it, that doesn’t change the fact that it is not in the same category as other chat apps.
It’s possible this outage will pass, but what does this situation mean for the app’s future? According to the Reddit thread, users are simply unable to communicate with anyone through the app. Where are the messages going that are being sent to them? Will they all come through at once when the server comes back online, or are they lost in the ether? What about the failed messages being sent by Beeper Mini users? Will those go through when the connection stabilizes again, or are they going to need to resend? What if Apple did decide to shut Beeper Mini down somehow? How would users know it was that and not a “normal” outage like today’s might be?
We think we’re going to find out a lot about Beeper Mini’s longevity today.