[joshavant]

Looking at the Beeper Mini announcement [1], they clearly state that a user doesn't need an Apple ID to register their phone number and send/receive iMessages. Also, they describe direct, device-to-Apple interactions.

However, this article says:

> IDS is used as a keyserver for iMessage...

> The first step in registering for IDS is getting an authentication token. This requires giving the API your Apple ID Username and Password.

> After registering with IDS, you will receive an “identity keypair”. This keypair can then be used to perform public key lookups.

So how does the Beeper Mini app take an arbitrary Android phone number, register public keys for it with IDS, and perform public key lookup of recipients... all without ever using an Apple ID?

[1] https://blog.beeper.com/i/139416474/security-and-privacy

EDIT - It looks like the answer here is the 'SMS Gateway' which is virtually undescribed in the OP article or anywhere on [1]. Guess that's the secret sauce.

[jjeaff]

I just downloaded Beeper Mini on my android phone and after giving me a fail error when trying to send an SMS to Apple to register my phone, it then popped up asking for my apple id.