While Nothing Phone users lost the opportunity to communicate with iMessage after Chats was pulled out due to privacy concerns, Apple decided to go ahead and block another iMessage clone. Beeper Mini was supposed to allow Android users to communicate via iMessage–and Apple took the necessary steps to block the service.

This became evident after Beeper Mini users started encountering issues last Friday (December 8), just less than a week after its official launch. While they insist that they are finding ways to make Beeper Mini work again, Apple’s statement to The Verge makes it clear that they don’t like anyone outside of its walled garden to have access to iMessage. 

In a statement sent by Apple Senior PR Manager Nadine Haija, they explained that they “took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage.” Beeper Mini’s claim of finding a way for Android users to communicate via iMessage without sketchy relay servers (like with the Sunbird-powered Nothing Chats) appears to involve them exploiting a loophole in iMessage–which Apple fixed immediately. 

The statement also suggests that Apple intentionally shut down Beeper Mini’s services, which makes us doubt if Beeper will be able to make its iMessage clone functional again–despite their claims that no one can read the contents of their message but only you. Sounds familiar? That’s the same promise that Nothing Chats offered–until they were caught lying.

Now that there’s no way for Android users to communicate via iMessage, everyone’s last hope for smooth cross-platform messaging is RCS. Apple did confirm that it will adopt RCS soon, so maybe an iMessage clone is not the solution after all.