Kind of, but it’s more complicated. I’m not sure if the app itself will be open source, but currently, the method they use is. Either way, the hardest part is already done, but you still need a client (maybe; they might open-source it) and a notification server. I’m planning to attempt to build a Matrix bridge if I have enough time and it’s not beyond my skills, but if you don’t want the messages to be decrypted by the server, making the notification server and maybe client would be really difficult.
Comment on There’s a new iMessage for Android app — and it actually works
polluteyourjorts@lemmy.one 6 months ago
So if the app will be open source like they say, can’t we just build it ourselves and not pay $2/mo?
LinuxSBC@lemm.ee 6 months ago
ilinamorato@lemmy.world 6 months ago
I’m pretty sure the point of this is that the official iMessage servers are the notification server.
Rootiest@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Sort of.
All messages/etc are sent using iMessage encryption directly between your phone and Apple’s iMessage servers.
But there is no Android push notifications from Apple’s servers.
So in order to be notified about new messages in a timely manner without killing your battery/data plan a cloud server is required to trigger your phone that a message has arrived so your phone can then request the message from Apple’s servers.
This is actually a really common implementation, many apps use Firebase or similar to handle push notifications that are only used to trigger a “pull” of a larger chunk of data.
muntedcrocodile@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Don’t see why not. Whats the timline on this?
polluteyourjorts@lemmy.one 6 months ago
Its already available for download and use, but I can’t find the source anywhere other than a Python proof of concept project that beeper purchased the rights to to make this app.
Aatube@kbin.social 6 months ago
Open source doesn’t mean it can be very conveniently free. Besides backend, building can be difficult, as you see in paid libre apps like Ardour
MagneticFusion@lemm.ee 6 months ago
you would have to run the back end servers as well I believe
polluteyourjorts@lemmy.one 6 months ago
There shouldn’t be any back end beeper servers with this implementation if they really do what they say and interface directly with Apple servers.
Mereo@lemmy.ca 6 months ago
It’s a bridge for notifications. Since Apple’s APN notification servers require a persistent connection to work, meaning that the application must be running continuously to receive notifications, the Beeper servers push those notifications (messages) to your phone.
This means that the application does not need to be running continuously to receive messages.
BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 6 months ago
Exactly. They host the Apple equivalent to GMS, which is called APN (or is it ANP? Alle Notification Protocol? I forget, but the Bubbler Mini devs explain it well)
MagneticFusion@lemm.ee 6 months ago
I did not read the article. I was assuming it just works with Matrix bridges
Rootiest@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Here’s a simple picture with minimal reading required.
Image
This is very different to the technology used in the free/wait-list Beeper Cloud app and all the other previous attempts at an iMessage for Android app.
To summarize:
All messages are sent directly between your device and Apple’s servers. You do not even need an AppleID. There is a cloud server involved but it’s only job is to send push notifications to Android so they app knows when to download new messages (securely with iMessage encryption) from Apple’s servers.