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> we send each user a Jailbroken iPhone with the Beeper app installed which bridges to iMessage Huh, I wonder how this is sustainable. I assume there is a grea

• bredren 6y ago
  It says you can run a Mac app but presumably this is to bridge in users outside the Apple ecosystem. So probably it is the cheapest iPhone that has a year or two worth of iOS support left and just sits plugged in. While a novel hack, I would never want my iMessage conversations being bridged to a service outside the Apple ecosystem. While I have no doubt this service will do their best with security, it relies on leaking data from Apple. Imagine if someone built an insecure bridge for FaceTime Audio, and the caller did not know the recipient was using a bridge service. Any reliance on Apple’s massive investment in the privacy and security of a FaceTime transmission goes out the window and into the hands of an unknown 3rd party. It also tricks the sender into thinking that their secure iMessage conversations are what they look like. I know when i see a green chat bubble, that low level people at Verizon can access the content of the messages. I see this as a big problem, where the goal of letting more people in for UX reasons undermines expectations of privacy from those uninvolved in the use of the product. People are mention Discord being unhappy with this, but I imagine Apple would see this as an abomination.
  • morpheuskafka 6y ago
    > It also tricks the sender into thinking that their secure iMessage conversations are what they look like. If you send a message to someone, you are assuming that anything can happen to it unless you have a legal agreement to the contrary. They could have a keylogger (malware or device-management), someone looking over their shoulder, take a screenshot, forget to sign out of the library computer, etc. The end-to-end-encryption on iMessage gets defeated for most people anyway if they have iCloud Backup on.
    • bredren 6y ago
      You are right, this has always been true with taking a photo of a screen and printing it out on your printer. This defeats any truly end-to-end encrypted conversation. I think you are also right to compare this service to malware. It takes content intended for a secured environment maintained by one party and exfiltrates it into another. This other environment is protected by an entity that is neither bound by the reputation damage of failing to keep the information secure, nor on the receiving end of funds that can be directed to keep it secure. Since 100% of the iMessage content, text and photos flows through this environment, it is not like occasionally taking photos of conversations. It is the wholesale duplication of the data. iCloud Backups are also encrypted, and are the security of that system is maintained by the first party the conversations were originally sent by.
    • jiofih 6y ago
      > The end-to-end-encryption on iMessage gets defeated for most people anyway if they have iCloud Backup on. iCloud backups are encrypted using a unique key which is only unlockable with the user password, which is itself protected in hardware. So no, it doesn’t defeat the purpose.
      • pseudalopex 6y ago
        Syncing messages through iCloud uses end to end encryption. Backups don't.[1] [1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303
        • jiofih 6y ago
          Keep reading: > Messages in iCloud also uses end-to-end encryption. If you have iCloud Backup turned on, your backup includes a copy of the key protecting your Messages. This ensures you can recover your Messages if you lose access to iCloud Keychain and your trusted devices. When you turn off iCloud Backup, a new key is generated on your device to protect future messages and isn't stored by Apple.
          • 6y ago
  • mattmcknight 6y ago
    >I would never want my iMessage conversations being bridged to a service outside the Apple ecosystem I think setting up an API outside the Apple ecosystem would be fine. It's crazy that we not only don't have a standard protocol for messaging anymore, the primary services don't even allow for integration.
  • pseudalopex 6y ago
    They're using unsupported iPhones.[1] [1] https://twitter.com/ericmigi/status/1351934418961661959 https://twitter.com/ericmigi/status/1351934418961661959
    • bredren 6y ago
      Worth considering that these always-connected devices exfiltrating data are not only jail broken, but unable to receive iOS security updates.
• lxe 6y ago
  I was wondering how this is solved... and here's the answer! Wish there was a free/foss DIY solution to this.
  • pp00hh 6y ago
    https://bluebubbles.app/ https://bluebubbles.app/ https://airmessage.org/ https://airmessage.org/ (dev on subreddit indicates it will be open sourced once some code cleanup happens)
• gpmcadam 6y ago
  Expect Apple to come down on this like a tonne of bricks and render the whole thing impossible very quickly.
  • jhatemyjob 6y ago
    Never gonna happen as long as checkra1n can pwn the latest iOS. Cat and mouse game. MobileSubstrate/Substitute/libhooker is too powerful a platform.
• renewiltord 6y ago
  This is great!