iMessage

Cloud-Hosted Setup

1. In Beeper Desktop, click the gear icon top left and go to the Chat Networks settings page.
2. Select iMessage
3. Select Cloud-hosted and hit Continue
4. Log in with your Apple ID and password (Note: If you just created a new Apple ID, recommend waiting for some time before you attempt setting up)
5. Input your 2FA code if prompted. You might also see a new login notification. Don't worry! This is Beeper servers connecting to your iMessage account.

   Apple's Advanced Data Protection is not supported on Beeper. You need to disable the feature to connect your iMessage to Beeper.

    
6. Have someone send you an iMessage to your Apple ID email to test!

Further Setup

• Enable SMS Forwarding on iPhone: Go to your iPhone Settings → Messages → Text Message Forwarding → Then enable the Mac named Beeper Mac
• Contacts and iMessage: How do I manage contacts in Beeper?

FAQ: Cloud-hosted iMessage

• Does Beeper import message history?
  • No past message history is synced; only new messages will be synced.
• Do we need a jailbroken iPhone or a Mac?
  • No. We operate a fleet of Mac servers that are used to relay messages between iMessage and Beeper. Each Beeper user is granted a Mac OS user account on a single Mac server.
• How to send/receive messages from a phone number?
  • For users who have an active SIM and an iPhone, once you enable SMS forwarding during the setup, you should be able to send/receive messages as a phone number on iMessage vs. just the Apple ID.
• How does one get an Apple ID
  • In case you don’t have an existing Apple ID, you can sign up for one from https://appleid.apple.com
• What about security?
  • Your Apple ID credentials are used once to sign in to your iMessage account on a Mac server managed by Beeper. Your password is never stored, logged, or cached. 
  • On the Mac server, new received messages are processed, encrypted with your Beeper zero-access encryption and forwarded to Beeper servers. The same process happens in reverse when you send an iMessage via Beeper. Beeper employees cannot read your iMessages after they have been processed.  
  • Only iMessage permissions are requested during sign in. No other permissions (iMessage history, two-factor authentication, iCloud, iCloud keychain, Find My, etc) are requested or granted on the Mac server.
  • Deleting your iMessage connection in Beeper will immediately and permanently delete your account on the Mac server. At the same time, all your zero-access encrypted message history will be deleted.

Can I self-host the iMessage bridge on Beeper?

• It's not easy, but it is possible. Our iMessage bridge is open-source on Github. This can be used in conjunction with  https://github.com/beeper/bridge-manager to self-host the iMessage bridge on a Mac computer.