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The over-engineered guide to getting sending iMessages with blue bubbles on your Android phone
UPDATE: As of April 2024, this hack no longer works consistently.
I've long been a fan of Beeper, the app that consolidates all of your different chat networks into a single app. Beeper was already my go-to for all things chat apps, but when they claimed they'd found a way to reverse-engineer Apple's protocols to allow Android users to send blue bubble iMessages from their phone to iPhone users, it was both extremely exciting and seemingly too good to be true. After a few days, it turned out it was in fact too good to be true.
After giving up on the cat-and-mouse game with Apple with one final plea to Apple (who arguably technically played fair in the first place, but that's an aside), Beeper called it quits. But perhaps as one final move before checkmate, they published one final guide to getting everything working again via a bit of a hacky workaround. While their guide is detailed, it's not actually specific enough about pre-requisites and it doesn't work exactly the way they've described. Since they've given up on supporting this guide, I'm taking matters into my own hands.
What you'll find here is an over-engineered and highly specific guide to getting Beeper's iMessage protocol working again on your Android device based on aggregating instructions and solves from several different guides. This guide will only work if you follow every instruction exactly as it's written (believe me as I tried to take some shortcuts and they didn't work). But if you follow through, I can guarantee that this will work for you as it did for me. Please leave a comment if you have questions and I'll do what I can to help (though I'm not an engineer or expert by any means).
The Prerequisites
A MacOS computer (Beeper's and palera1n's guide suggests Linux is workable, but this guide is not designed for that)
A USB A to Lightning cable (Don't use any other kind of cable. If your computer only allows USB C, buy a dongle. This guide will not work with a USB C to Lightning cable.
An A8 - A11 device on iOS 15 - iOS 16. I bought a used iPhone 8 on Swappa for ~$80 after having issues with using an iPhone 6 (though I believe 6S may work). Do not use a Mac for your iMessage registration code as users have now reported their Macs being entirely blocked from using iMessage.
Ensure that your iPhone has been factory reset with the following key settings or your jailbreak will not work:
Turn off software automatic updates
Turn off passcode and Touch ID security
Turn off iMessage
Turn off Find My Phone
Compatible devices: While this list has all technically compatible devcies, I exclude any devices with A9 SoC chips or below as it complicates a later step. To check which devices have which chips, see this guide.
iPhone X
iPhone 8 / iPhone 8 Plus
iPhone 7 / iPhone 7 Plus
iPad (7th generation)
iPad (6th generation)
iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation, 2019)
iPad Pro 10.5-inch (2017)
iPod touch (7th generation)
Beeper Desktop (you'll need this to reconnect the iMessage Bridge)
The Process
Factory Reset iPhone to factory settings. Do not upgrade/reinstall iOS.
Set up iPhone. I made sure I did not enable Siri, Location Sharing, Apple Pay, Screen Time or any of the other services as part of the walk-through. I couldn't tell you exactly why, but you likely want to minimize the ways your iPhone connects to the internet.
Connect to Wifi — You cannot complete this guide without internet.
Sign in with your Apple ID (I believe you're required to do so as part of setup but if not, make sure you do sign in).
Ensure that your iPhone has the following key settings or your jailbreak will not work:
Turn off software automatic updates: Settings → General → Software Update → Disable Automatic Updates
Turn off passcode and Touch ID security: Settings → Touch ID & Passcode → Turn Passcode Off
Turn off iMessage: Settings → Messages → iMessage toggle off
Turn off Find My Phone: Settings → Apple ID → Find My → Find My iPhone toggle off
Open the Terminal App (For Mac: open finder → Applications → Terminal)
Run sudo /bin/sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://static.palera.in/scripts/install.sh)"
Press Enter
Enter your MacOS password
Press Enter. (See Fig 1)
Now, plug your iPhone into your computer using the USB A to Lightning Cable.
On the iPhone, you may be prompted to ‘Trust device’. → Select “Trust”. You may have already been prompted for this when you previously plugged your iPhone to your computer.
In Terminal app, type palera1n and press Enter. (See Fig 2)
You will see this on your Terminal App on your computer.
There will be three prompts that look something like this:
<Info> Waiting for devices
<Info> Entering recovery mode
<Info> Press Enter when ready for DFU mode
Meanwhile, on your iPhone, you should now see that it is in recovery mode. (See Fig 3)
If your iPhone doesn’t enter into recovery mode, restart the iPhone (long press home+power for 10 seconds until iOS boots up normal).
Then restart Step 8 - 9 again
Once you press Enter on your screen, you will quickly be asked to do the following (so be ready!):
hold the side button and the volume down button for 5 seconds
hold the volume down button for 10 seconds
Hit Enter, and follow instructions in Terminal window to hold down buttons on your iPhone to put iPhone into DFU mode. You will see the following after you press Enter.
Your Terminal window will now show a flurry of comments that won't make any sense except for a message that says Checkmate!. (See Fig 4)
If you're using an Apple Silicon Mac and using a USB-C port to plug your cable into, you'll need to unplug and replug the cable at the Lightning port after Checkmate! appears in the logs.
If you see a Timed out waiting for download mode error, simply unplug the cable connected to the iPhone (not the one connected to the computer). Wait for 5–10 seconds and plug it back in. You should be good to go.
At this point, you will finalize the jailbreak.
Your Terminal window should proceed with a further series of display messages ending with <Info> Booting Kernel....
At the same time, your iPhone will display (in very tiny font) many series of prompts as well as the image of a checkmate against an Apple logo (See Fig 5)
Wait until the device boots up (you may need to wait 3-5 minutes but do not do anything to your iPhone during this time). The iPhone should now show an app called palera1n. (See Fig 6)
Open the palera1n app
Tap Sileo → Install
Set password to whatever you like, though most people may choose to use alpine - this in case you forget it, you can come back here and remember what you set it to.
Back on your Homescreen, open Sileo. You will get two prompts you will need to accept once you open Sileo.
On Sileo, install Ellekit. Press Search → Type ElleKit → Get → Queue → Confirm → Press Reboot
Back on your Homescreen → Open Sileo.
Tap Sources from the bottom bar. Tap + button at top right → Type https://apt.beeper.com → Tap ‘Add Source’
A new repository called Beeper should appear. Tap Beeper → Tweaks → beepserv → Get → Queue → Confirm → Restart Springboard Later
Back on your Homescreen, open iOS Settings app. Tap Messages and your iMessage Registration Code will be displayed below the iMessage toggle switch
If the code does not appear:
Try force closing and reopening Settings → Messages
Try opening Palera1n app on iPhone → Actions → Userspace reboot
On Beeper Desktop, delete your iMessage connection and reconnect using your Apple ID and iMessage registration code. (See Fig 7)
You will need to verify the iMessage code by answering a push notification on your iPhone
You will also get a 2FA code sent to your iPhone
IMPORTANT: As soon as your device is registered, turn off wifi on your iPhone. I believe that Apple eventually starts to notice there are different Device IDs between the iPhone and the phone you are using with the iMessage registration code and then expires your credentials
If your credentials expire after a short time, repeat Step 21
Congratulations, you're back in blue.