We have far too many instant messaging apps on your phones, taking up our time and mind space. There’s the inevitable overload of notifications on your phone’s lock screen at most times. WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Apple iMessage, Slack, Skype and even direct messages on Twitter and Instagram. Add to that, often there will be overenthusiastic contacts who believe in over-communication. The end result is, you’ll feel like pulling your hair out at times. I surely do, more often than not. The world is crying out for an app that can put all these apps together, in one window, so that you don’t hop, skip and jump between them and end up exhausting yourself and your thumbs. Simplify things, if you may. Our prayers may have been answered. The app is called Beeper, and it may be the super app you’ve been waiting for. I am one step closer to instant messaging nirvana, or at least that what I’d hope it is, and will cost me $10 per month for the convenience.
When Beeper was announced earlier this year, needless to say, it was something I immediately got on the waitlist for. The promise at the time was that Beeper would get back with a chance to reserve the username at some point. This week, finally, I got that much awaited email with a personalized link to reserve the username. And therein came the attention to detail—you’ll be paying $10 per month for the service. You share the credit card details now, but you’ll be charged after a few weeks when you are invited to start using Beeper with the username you’ve reserved for yourself. It is the same price, whether you sign up on Android or the iPhone. There is also the option of paying for a year in advance, that is $120 right away, which the good folks at Beeper say, will bump you further up the waitlist. I paid the $10 fee to get on the waitlist, because paying for the full year really wasn’t sitting too well with the risk-taking appetite.
So, what do I get for $10 per month with Beeper and why I’d recommend you at least try this out too? The above illustrated notification clutter is a primary reason for getting an app that brings all your messaging apps together in one place. Beeper isn’t a messaging app by itself—what it does it brings all your existing accounts under one roof, as one app that you open to read and reply to all chats from all linked app. At this time, you can bring WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Apple iMessage, Slack, Skype, Twitter, Instagram, Android Messages, IRC, Matrix, Discord and Beeper network within one app. That’s pretty much most of the popular instant messaging apps ticked off, though it is interesting to note that the Chinese owned WeChat and Line are still not part of the supported apps.
Beeper says that once the username has been reserved, the wait begins. Each week, they’ll invite more and more people to start using the service. When it is my turn, I’ll be given 30 days to set up my account and start using Beeper, failing which the username shall be released again. The app is multi-platform, and is available for the Apple iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Apple macOS devices, Microsoft Windows computing devices and Linux. That being said, getting iMessage to work on Android phones requires some nifty workarounds. There will be filters for the Beeper inbox, ability to search across all chat networks as well as snooze or archive messages. The developers of Beeper do say that there is no free subscription tier at this time, though there are plans to introduce a trial option later this year. Beeper is also getting a dark mode with the next app update, which means Beeper users have something cool to look forward to.
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