When it comes to news items that we love at TechCrunch, IPOs rank pretty darn high.
Another great newsy bit that comes along less frequently than we’d like is a startup buying another startup.
These deals are often very interesting as they either bring a gob of talent, or technology to an already growing company, potentially accelerating it.
So it was with joy that the Equity Podcast crew dug into Automattic buying Beeper for $125 million.
But certainly we are an ocean or two away from the heady days we saw back in 2021.
WordPress.com owner Automattic is acquiring Beeper, the company behind the iMessage-on-Android solution that was referenced by the Department of Justice in its antitrust lawsuit against Apple.
One of the reasons why there are no other people building this type of app is it costs a surprisingly large amount of money to build a damn good chat app,” Migicovsky noted.
As for Beeper’s products, the company has now briefed the DOJ on what happened when Apple blocked its newer app, Beeper Mini, which aimed to bring iMessage to Android.
Beeper on Android launches to allThe company is instead releasing an updated version of its core app, Beeper, on Android.
In this rewritten version of Beeper, the company is starting to roll out fully end-to-end encrypted messages across Signal.
Beeper gave up on its mission after Apple blocked the app’s efforts late last year.
Each time Beeper issued workarounds and fixes to keep the service afloat, Apple knocked them down one by one.
“Recently, Apple blocked a third-party developer from fixing the broken cross-platform messaging experience in Apple Messages and providing end-to-end encryption for messages between Apple Messages and Android users,” the DOJ complaint reads.
When Apple launched the Apple Watch the following year, it began limiting third-party access to new and improved APIs for smartwatch functionality.
The DOJ notes that Apple prevents iPhone users from responding to notifications using a third-party smartwatch.
Beeper is giving up on its mission to bring iMessage to Android after implementing a series of fixes that Apple has knocked down one by one over the past month.
The latest workaround requires users to own or rent a jailbroken iPhone to get iMessage working via Beeper.
You then need to install a Beeper tool to generate an iMessage registration code, then update to the latest Beeper Mini app and enter your code.
The process is quite complicated and significantly takes away from the original appeal of Beeper, which was supposed to provide an easy way to bring iMessage to Android.
Although Beeper is done trying to bring iMessage to Android, the company says it’s “shifting focus back to our long-term goal of building the best chat app on earth” in the new year.
Beeper, the app that brings iMessage to Android users, is implementing a fix that it says will allow users to once again access the service after Apple blocked it.
However, the fix requires you to have access to a Mac computer, or have a friend on Beeper with a Mac.
“This 1:1 mapping of registration data to individual user—in our testing—makes the connection very reliable,” the post reads.
“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 says that in its testing, it found that 10-20 iMessage users can safely use the same registration data.
Apple’s move to cut off Beeper, the app that brought iMessage to Android users, already caught the attention of U.S.
Of Commerce had earlier this year described Apple as a “gatekeeper” with a “monopoly position” in its mobile app ecosystem.
Earlier this month, Beeper debuted an app called Beeper Mini, which leveraged new technology to bring support for blue bubble iMessage chats to Android users.
Though the company was able to get a fix rolled out, Apple once again targeted Beeper’s users, deliberately blocking messages for about 5% of users, the company said.
Lots more to come this week,” said Migicovsky, in a post on X about the letter, reported first by CBS Mornings in a segment about the Beeper app.
Beeper Cloud users were also impacted, the company’s post said, referring to its original messaging app aggregator, but said those users could contact Beeper Help for a fix as well.
Apple appears to be deliberately blocking iMessages from being delivered to ~5% of Beeper Mini users.
Uninstalling and reinstalling Beeper Mini fixes the issue.
But although Beeper believed Apple would not be able to shut its service down, as Beeper Mini users communicated directly with Apple’s servers, just as iPhones do, Apple quickly reacted on Friday to put an end to Beeper Mini’s operation.
As a result of Apple’s meddling, leading to Beeper Mini’s instability, the startup made its new app free for Android users for the time being.
But things are now starting to shift again back to the open web, Mullenweg believes.
With Texts.com, he saw an opportunity to invest in another area where consumers are pushing for more openness: messaging.
As for Texts.com, Mullenweg saw the acquisition as a way to move into a third major market beyond publishing and commerce.
“I thought that we had a lot of ideas to build, and Automattic seemed like the right place,” Bagaria added.
Competitor Beeper recently made its iMessage-on-Android app Beeper Mini free as it does battle with Apple, which has been working to shut down its service.
