A new app could bring iMessage to Windows, but there's a catch

Beeper (Image credit: Beeper)

What you need to know

A new subscription-based app called Beeper could bring iMessage to Windows.
The app is designed to bring all of your messaging platforms under one roof.
To get iMessage to work on Android or Windows, you'll need an always-online Mac or a jailbroken phone sent to you by the company.

A new app by the name of Beeper could bring iMessage to Windows users thanks to a very strange workaround.

Beeper is a new universal chat app that's an attempt to unify 15 different chat platforms into a single interface. The app is the work of a team that includes Eric Migicovsky, the CEO and founder of former smartwatch manufacturer Pebble, who announced its launch on Twitter. Beeper's site notes that the project was previously known as NovaChat, and requires a $10 per month subscription.

The app works with all of the most popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Slack, Twitter, Discord, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger, as well as iMessage.

So how on earth can you use iMessage on Windows? From Beeper:

This was a tough one to figure out! Beeper has two ways of enabling Android, Windows and Linux users to use iMessage: we send each user a Jailbroken iPhone with the Beeper app installed which bridges to iMessage, or if they have a Mac that is always connected to the internet, they can install the Beeper Mac app which acts as a bridge.

If you don't have an always-online Mac, Beeper will send you an upcycled iPhone 4S that's jailbroken to act as a bridge.

Founder Eric Migicovsky literally has a box under his desk...

Yes! That is EXACTLY what we're doing. I have 50 iPhone 4s sitting here at my desk.Yes! That is EXACTLY what we're doing. I have 50 iPhone 4s sitting here at my desk.— Eric Migicovsky (@ericmigi) January 20, 2021 January 20, 2021

The full list of supported messaging platforms is as follows:

Whatsapp
Facebook Messenger
iMessage
Android Messages (SMS)
Telegram
Twitter
Slack
Hangouts
Instagram
Skype
IRC
Matrix
Discord
Signal
Beeper network

You can find out more and sign up at Beeper's website.

Stephen is Tom's Hardware's News Editor with almost a decade of industry experience covering technology, having worked at TechRadar, iMore, and even Apple over the years. He has covered the world of consumer tech from nearly every angle, including supply chain rumors, patents and litigation, and more. When he's not at work, he loves reading about history and playing video games.