[HN Gopher] I built an iMessage bot using Beeper
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I built an iMessage bot using Beeper
Author : anteloper
Score : 69 points
Date : 2023-03-29 19:27 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.getclearspace.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.getclearspace.com)
| andwaal wrote:
| I have been using Beeper for 6 months or so now. In the start it
| had some bugs, but now they are more and more rare (I don't use
| iMessages).
|
| Overall an amazing product, with what seems like a very active
| and product team behind which constants pushes out new updates.
| Highly recommended 10/10!
| smt88 wrote:
| I'd switch in a second, but you can't use iMessage without
| giving Beeper your iCloud password. That's a dealbreaker for
| me.
|
| I wonder if they'll offer a self-hosted option at some point.
| jeron wrote:
| Looking forward to a Beeper chatGPT bot
| rsync wrote:
| Does beeper have an API with a curl interface ?
|
| As in, I can run a curl command with an API key and generate an
| imessage ?
|
| How can I throw money at this today ?
|
| EDIT: OK, I understand that the same restrictions are extant that
| always have been - namely, an Apple device needs to be involved
| in creating the actual imessage. So this is not the breakthrough
| service I thought it might be.
| jeroenhd wrote:
| Beeper is a bunch of Matrix bridges run as a commercial
| service. You can join the wait list or set up your own
| Matrix+bridges if you want (though that's more fiddling
| around).
|
| As Beeper is based on Matrix, you can use the standard Matrix
| API, use libraries like Maubot, and plenty of others in other
| programming languages. HTTP calls are one way to send/receive
| messages but there's more flexibility to be gained if you pick
| a wrapper library IMO.
| joefigura wrote:
| Not sure about other chat apps, but to connect to imessage
| they were originally using jailbroken iphones and now use
| MacOS virtual machines, according to another commentator. So
| there is a bit of additional work that would be necessary to
| fully replicate it.
| jeroenhd wrote:
| Looks like you're right:
| https://docs.mau.fi/bridges/go/imessage/index.html
|
| Disappointing, but iMessage has always been Apple's special
| little protocol nobody else can use.
|
| Still, there are Docker images out there (that break the
| TOS) for running macOS inside QEMU, I'm sure someone can
| script one of those to set up a bridge more easily?
| redsolver wrote:
| Beeper uses the Matrix API, so yes!
| Makhram wrote:
| Unfortunately, I had to quit using Beeper a few days ago. Ever
| since they migrated to their new hungryserv, iMessage reliability
| has gotten steadily worse and worse. It culminated in an entire
| day of sending iMessages where Beeper gave them all a delivered
| checkmark... But none of them actually reached their recipients.
| Was fun explaining to people who were angry I hadn't messaged
| them back in over a day... I'm back on BlueBubbles now, hopefully
| it will be more reliable. Overall it's a shame because I'm really
| rooting for Beeper to succeed. I'm sick of all the existing chat
| providers.
| navanchauhan wrote:
| I love using Beeper, but I disabled iMessages. It is a bit
| unreliable when it comes to iMessages
|
| I use it for everything else though (Instagram, Slack, Discord,
| WhatsApp, Facebook, Signal)
| ofchnofc wrote:
| [dead]
| joefigura wrote:
| "There is also plenty of fun to be had: ETA Accountability Bot -
| when I send "I'll be there in 10" it could follow with an
| accurate translation: "on average, this means I'll be there in
| 13.26 minutes"."
|
| Brilliant!
| pie314isi wrote:
| In the slightly olden days, iMessage - or whatever it was called
| then - had a built in jabber client, and there was brief period
| (Sierra era?) that iMessage/iCloud could sync up all your
| messages across google and apple and SMS.
|
| I _think_ it would have enabled this functionality, if anyone
| knew and/or investigated it.
| danaris wrote:
| Yep, this is when it was called iChat. I used it for that exact
| purpose for some time. This was before Apple had their own
| protocol, though; I believe it just supported AIM and XMPP.
| pie314isi wrote:
| it's actually persisted more recently. I just checked a High
| Sierra machine. "Messages" has an "Add Jabber Account" menu
| option. An it's recent enough that it plays nice with all my
| existing more modern iPhone/macOS etc iCloud messages.
| wantlotsofcurry wrote:
| More of a Beeper question. I couldn't find the information on
| Beepers website or FAQ page.
|
| - For iMessage, does using Beeper allow you to use your own phone
| number to send/receive messages or do you have to use your Apple
| ID email to send/receive iMessages?
| coddingtonbear wrote:
| Although I see somebody else suggesting otherwise, I promise
| you that you can send/receive iMessages (and SMS messages) via
| your phone number if you have an iPhone. You do have to select
| your phone number as your "Default Alias" from the iMessage
| chat network configuration page, though.
| pkulak wrote:
| I don't think it's that simple, and it's kinda up to Apple.
| If you have an iPhone, then yes. But if you have an Android
| phone, from what I can tell, there's nothing you can do to
| stop Apple from eventually disregarding the phone number
| attached to your account and sending everything from your
| email address. Part of the reason I use an iPhone at the
| moment is because my entire network uses iMessage and I run
| an iMessage -> Matrix bridge.
| Scalene2 wrote:
| Apple ID.
| cheapliquor wrote:
| I signed up for beeper like 3 months ago and still haven't gotten
| an official invite.
| counternotions wrote:
| Seems like there's a wrapper app like this that marks the peak
| of each generation of chat apps. Meebo used to be the sh*t.
| johnxie wrote:
| Missing Meebo! It was truly ahead of its time. I remember the
| struggle of keeping just 10+ chat windows open, but man, it
| was a lot of fun to use!
| bg0 wrote:
| Same :(
| tuxracer wrote:
| You can self-host with https://github.com/mautrix/imessage and
| https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/
| leovander wrote:
| Are they still doing iMessages via an always on Apple computer
| or shipping out jailbroken iPhones?
| axutio wrote:
| Via MacOS VMs/containers.
| arjvik wrote:
| Does that mean you can't use your own phone number if
| you're an Android user?
| Kab1r wrote:
| Yes. I am a beeper user and there is currently no
| mechanism to register phone numbers unless you own an
| iPhone.
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(page generated 2023-03-29 23:00 UTC)