Pebble Founder Introduces Beeper; A Platform That Unifies 15 Messenger Apps In One

Juggling between different messenger applications is a hassle no matter whether you’re on your desktop or on your phone. In an effort to simplify this, now-defunct Pebble smartwatch founder Eric Migicovsky has introduced a new platform known as Beeper (formerly named as Novachat) that unifies 15 different private messengers into just one app.

But before we go on about the features offered by Beeper, we have to mention that it does come with a catch. In order to enjoy using the app, users are required to subscribe to the platform at a cost of US$10 (~RM40) a month.

As mentioned earlier, the newly introduced platform supports 15 messengers including Telegram, WhatsApp, SMS, Discord, Slack, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts, Skype, Signal, IRC, Twitter DMs and even Apple iMessage. According to its website, the developers are planning to add new chat networks every week, therefore constantly increasing the number of supported chat platforms.

All of the messages from the multiple supported platforms are connected to the app via an open source federated messaging protocol known as Matrix. Each respective messenger feeds its messages into a single location, which can be responded from Beeper. The app labels each chat with their respective platform icons for easy identification, and also provides users with the ability to search through every single one of their messages.

Beeper’s privacy page on its website did not mention any form of encryption based messaging, but Matrix claims that all of its information is end-to-end encrypted. Which, by right, should apply to all of the messages sent through the app. The 15-in-one messaging platform is available on MacOS, Windows, Linux‍, iOS and Android, which is obtainable via the app’s official website.

Even though Beeper allows its subscribers to use iMessage on non-Apple devices, the process of enabling this is not so straightforward. Migicovsky and the app’s website explain that there are two approaches to achieve this for those who own a Mac and for those who don’t. For those who own a Mac device, they are required to the Beeper app installed and have their machines connected to the internet 24/7 to forward messages via the app. 

Beeper’s privacy page on its website did not mention any form of encryption based messaging, but Matrix claims that all of its information is end-to-end encrypted. Which, by right, should apply to all of the messages sent through the app. The 15-in-one messaging platform is available on MacOS, Windows, Linux‍, iOS and Android, which is obtainable via the app’s official website.

Even though Beeper allows its subscribers to use iMessage on non-Apple devices, the process of enabling this is not so straightforward. Migicovsky and the app’s website explain that there are two approaches to achieve this for those who own a Mac and for those who don’t. For those who own a Mac device, they are required to the Beeper app installed and have their machines connected to the internet 24/7 to forward messages via the app. 

Unless you’re really in need of a unified platform to keep track of all of your private messages, subscribing to Beeper at US$10 per month would probably be worth your while. But realistically, you won’t be missing much at all if you do decide to stick with navigating through each and every messenger separately – which is free to begin with.