We have way too many instant messaging apps on your phones taking up our time and space. There is usually the inevitable overload of notifications on your phone’s lock screen. WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, Apple iMessage, Slack, Skype and even direct messages on Twitter and Instagram. Add to this that there are often overly enthusiastic contacts who believe in overcommunication. The end result is that every once in a while you feel like pulling your hair out. I sure, more often than not. The world is crying out for an app that can merge all of these apps into one window so you don’t jump, jump, and jump between them and exhaust yourself and your thumbs. Simplify things, if you can. Our prayers may have been answered. The app is called Beeper and it may be the super app you’ve been waiting for. I’m one step closer to nirvana for instant messaging, or at least what I hope it is, and it costs me $ 10 a month for convenience.
When Beeper was announced earlier this year, I was of course immediately on the waiting list. The promise at the time was that Beeper would come back at some point with the chance to reserve the username. This week I finally got that long-awaited email with a personalized link to reserve the username. And with that came the attention to detail: you pay $ 10 a month for the service. You will now share the credit card information, but you will be charged after a few weeks when you are invited to start using Beeper with the username you have reserved for yourself. It’s the same price whether you sign up on Android or the iPhone. There is also the option to pay a year in advance, which is immediately $ 120, which, according to the good folks at Beeper, will push you further up the waiting list. I paid the $ 10 fee to get on the waiting list because paying for the whole year really wasn’t that great with the risk appetite.
So, what do I get for $ 10 a month with Beeper and why would I recommend that you at least try it out? The messy notifications illustrated above are a major reason to buy an app that brings all your messaging apps together in one place. Beeper is not in itself a messaging app: what it does brings all your existing accounts under one roof, as one app that you open to read and reply to all chats from all linked apps. Right now, 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. Those are pretty much most of the popular instant messaging apps checked, although it’s interesting to note that Chinese owned WeChat and Line are still not part of the supported apps.
Beeper says that once the username is reserved, the wait begins. Each week they will invite more and more people to use the service. When it is my turn, I have 30 days to set up my account and start using Beeper, otherwise the username will be released again. The app is multi-platform and is available for the Apple iPhone, iPad, Android phones, Apple macOS devices, Microsoft Windows computers and Linux. That said, getting iMessage to work on Android phones requires some handy solutions. There will be filters for the pager inbox, the ability to search all chat networks and snooze or archive messages. Beeper’s developers say there is no free subscription tier at the moment, although there are plans to introduce a trial version later this year. Beeper is also getting dark mode with the next app update, meaning Beeper users have something cool to look forward to.