Beeper is a mobile chat app that made a name for itself by offering “universal” access to chat, allowing you to communicate with people using the apps else than Beeper. Most notably, the company tried several different approaches to allow people with Android phones to communicate with iPhone users by tapping into Apple’s iMessage service.
Apple didn’t like that, and after a few rounds of cat and mouse, Beeper seems to have given up, because the new Beeper Android app out in beta today supports a whole host of services… but iMessage isn’t one of them.
Beeper says its new Android app has been completely redesigned with an updated design and a focus on speed when it comes to browsing, sending or searching for messages.
There’s also support for “Minimal” or “Pro” inbox mode, depending on how much information you want to see on the screen, and new themes including the OLED black theme and the Material You theme. And users with tablets or flip phones can use the new two-pane view.
The app currently supports over a dozen different messaging platforms including SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, but not iMessage. And some features are still in development but not yet available, including message scheduling, Android Auto support, the ability to delete chats, and end-to-end encryption for WhatsApp and Google Messages.
One more thing to keep in mind? Beeper is currently still invite-only. If you already have a Beeper account, you can download and try the new Android app while it’s in beta. But if you don’t have an account yet, you can join a waiting list or ask existing users to send you a referral.