Apple is taking action against messaging to customers' Macs

When Apple last month blocked the Beeper Mini app from giving Android users access to the tech giant's messaging service, Beeper encouraged customers to instead use their Mac computers to connect and continue sending messages.

But in recent days, dozens of Beeper customers have reported that they no longer have access to Apple's messaging service on their Android phones or their Mac computers. Several people have called Apple customer service and were told that the company had revoked their Mac's access to iMessage due to irregular activity. No one was warned they would lose service.

For Beeper customers, many of whom prefer Android devices to iPhones but prefer Mac computers to PCs, Apple's move shows how far the company will go to maintain control over its services. In these cases, Apple stopped one of the services it provided with its computers because it objected to the way its customers were using them.

“Legally, they're probably in limbo because of their terms of service, but it still kind of sucks,” says Matvei Vevitsis, who this month noticed he could no longer send his mother iMessages through his 12-inch MacBook.

Apple declined to comment. After The New York Times contacted Apple, some Beeper customers began reporting that the block had been lifted in recent days.

The maneuver is the latest in a tit-for-tat between Apple and Beeper that has caught the attention of antitrust regulators. Last year, the Justice Department met with Beeper's leadership team about Apple's actions, and the Federal Trade Commission said in a blog that it would target “dominant” players who “use privacy and security as a justification for not allowing interoperability between services.” stand” would be examined.

Beeper Mini debuted on December 5 as an app that gave Android phone users the ability to send encrypted messages to iPhones. It made it possible for people with Samsung and Google devices to send high-resolution videos and use perks like animations that were previously reserved for iPhone customers. Within three days the app had added 100,000 customers.

But Apple blocked the app by changing the iMessage system. The app was said to create security and privacy risks.

Beeper then came up with a solution to maintain the service. It asked customers to use their Mac computers to get a registration code for iMessage and use that to log into Beeper on an Android device.

Mr Vevitsis, 31, said he used a MacBook from around 2015 to connect Beeper to Apple's messaging service on his Samsung Galaxy phone. A self-proclaimed tech tinkerer, he prefers using Android phones because the system is more customizable than an iPhone. But his mother has an iPhone and he wanted to be able to send her high-quality photos and videos.

At the beginning of this year, Beeper stopped working and Mr. Vevitsis was no longer able to message his mother. He opened his MacBook and tried to message her directly, but had the same problem, so he called Apple support.

“Apple told me my iMessage was flagged for spam,” he said. Apple's support representative offered to unblock it, but that didn't solve the problem. Eventually, he downloaded an app that allowed him to create an alternate serial number for his MacBook and started using iMessages again.

Beeper said more than 20 of its approximately 3,500 customers had reported similar glitches on their Macs. Several of these customers spoke to The Times and provided accounts and details of their conversations with Apple Support.

Ghazi Shami, the founder of Empire, an independent music company in San Francisco, said he had encountered similar problems. Like Mr. Vevitsis, Mr. Shami prefers using a Galaxy to an iPhone, but many musicians send audio recordings using iMessage. Mr Shami connected to Beeper via his iMac Pro desktop so he could send and receive the recordings from his phone.

But late last year, he said, Beeper stopped working and iMessage was disabled on his iMac, which cost Apple $5,000 when it was released in 2017.

“I don't think it's in the spirit of Silicon Valley to block someone's serial number because he was testing beta software,” Mr. Shami said. “It's like they're scolding schoolchildren.”