In the latest chapter of blue bubbles versus green bubbles, Apple has blocked access to iMessage from credentials masquerading as Apple to protect its customers, the company told CNET on Saturday evening. This comes after companies like Beeper and Nothing released Android apps that provided a workaround.
The iPhone maker said that it can’t verify messages sent via unauthorized means that were posing as valid Apple credentials. Messages sent over iMessage have end-to-end encryption to ensure that no one but the sender and recipient has access. Apple said it blocked these “fake credentials” to protect its customers.
The move comes less than a week after Beeper reversed-engineered iMessage access so people using Android or Windows could use the service and send iMessages from non-Apple devices. Messages sent to an iPhone owner that would normally show up as green bubbles from an Android user over SMS showed up as blue if sent from the Beeper Mini Android app or Beeper Cloud, the original version of the service that routed iMessage through a Mac.
Read more:Â I Ditched My Android for an iPhone, and I Don’t Regret It
“At Apple, we build our products and services with industry-leading privacy and security technologies designed to give users control of their data and keep personal information safe,” Apple said in a statement provided to CNET. “We took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage.”
To maintain end-to-end encryption, Apple can’t verify these messages sent through masquerading apps as having valid credentials.
“These techniques posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata exposure and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks,” Apple said. “We will continue to make updates in the future to protect our users.”
Beeper Mini users took to Reddit on Friday to share that…
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