Beeper now says you need a Mac to use its iMessage on Android app

After Apple started blocking Beeper’s iMessage for Android app, the Beeper team implemented a workaround that required users to send and receive texts via email. Since then, the company has come up with a new solution to its problem, but there’s a new downside.

On Reddit, Beeper announced it is getting ready to release an update for Beeper Cloud and Mini. Scheduled to launch tomorrow, the update will allow you to send and receive texts with your phone number again, but to do so, you’ll need a Mac or have a friend on Beeper with a Mac.

Beeper Mini works by sending registration data to a real Mac, which is what tricks an iPhone into thinking it is communicating with another Apple device. Prior to the outage, the company relied on its own fleet of Mac servers to accomplish this task. However, the company says this made them an “easy target for Apple because thousands of Beeper users were using the same registration data.”

To solve the problem, Beeper says it will start generating unique registration data for its users. Beeper explains:

This 1:1 mapping of registration data to individual user—in our testing—makes the connection very reliable. If you use Beeper Mini, you can use your Mac registration data with it as well, and Beeper Mini will start to work again. Beeper needs to periodically regenerate this data even after you’ve connected, roughly once per week or month, so the Mac needs to switched on regularly.

It further adds that if you don’t have a Mac, you can ask a friend on Beeper if you can use their registration data. The company claims that its testing found that 10-20 iMessage users can safely use the same registration data. Beeper also says that it will open-source its full iMessage bridge and Mac code registration data generator so users can self-host.