Multi-service messaging app Beeper, which permits folks to hook up with all their chat apps from one interface, is relaunching its app on Wednesday to supply a safer model that not requires use of its personal cloud companies. As well as, Beeper is introducing premium choices that present entry to extra accounts than its free tier and embrace power-user options like reminders, the flexibility to ship messages later, an incognito mode to learn messages with out marking them learn, AI voice word transcriptions, and extra.
Now owned by WordPress.com maker Automattic, which purchased Beeper for $125 million in 2024, the app has nearly fully built-in with competitor Texts.com, which Automattic additionally acquired the 12 months prior for $50 million.
With a mixed 30-person staff (together with contractors) and now working beneath the Beeper model, the messaging app helps WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, X, Telegram, Sign, Matrix, Slack, Google Chat, Discord, LinkedIn, and Google Messages (SMS/RCS). On Mac computer systems solely, Beeper may join customers with their iMessage chats, although Apple has shut down this entry in prior variations.
The general aim, based on Automattic, is to simplify the issue of getting too many messaging apps to maintain up with, whereas additionally retaining these chats safe.
The app beforehand first linked with Beeper Cloud earlier than speaking with the messaging community, stated Beeper CEO Kishan Bagaria. Whereas that system stays the default, customers will now have the choice of switching to Beeper on gadget, which is able to see the app connecting on to the messaging community and skipping the intermediary.
“That ensures that end-to-end encryption is preserved and your privateness is pretty much as good because the official app,” Bagaria instructed TechCrunch in an interview forward of the app’s relaunch. Whether or not the businesses concerned will admire having their very own apps bypassed, nevertheless, stays to be seen.
“Now we have good relationships with a few of these firms, and a few of them are OK with this,” Bagaria stated. “Others, we’ve probably not heard from a lot.”
To stave off any potential shutdowns by messaging community suppliers, Beeper goals to assist the enterprise fashions of the first-party apps each time potential. For instance, if Telegram is displaying advertisements, these advertisements will probably be proven in Beeper, too.
As well as, EU rules requiring that messaging platforms be interoperable may put stress on messaging app suppliers to depart an answer like Beeper’s alone.
Alongside the relaunch, there’ll now be an choice to improve to a brand new $9.99 per thirty days premium plan, Beeper Plus, which permits customers to attach with 10 messaging companies as an alternative of simply the 5 that free customers have entry to.
As well as, Plus subscribers have the choice to schedule messages to ship later, can set reminders to comply with up on chats, learn messages in incognito mode so that they don’t really feel pressured to reply instantly, entry a number of accounts per community, view AI voice word transcriptions (processed by way of OpenAI’s Whisper mannequin with consumer consent), and swap out their app icon for a customized model.
A good greater tier, Beeper Plus Plus, which begins at $49.99 per thirty days, provides entry to limitless accounts and is designed with the wants of companies or social media managers in thoughts. (Annual subscriptions are additionally out there at a reduced worth of $99.99 per 12 months for Beeper Plus and $499 per 12 months for Beeper Plus Plus.)
After Automattic acquired Beeper, the corporate mixed its staff with Texts.com to develop a brand new product that supplied the perfect of each companies. With Wednesday’s relaunch, these apps are actually 99% built-in, Bagaria stated, as only some smaller options stay to be ported over.
Finally, Automattic’s newest acquisition, the private CRM Clay, which can be later rebranded), will even be built-in with Beeper, although it’ll stay a stand-alone app.
“It’ll principally be constructed on prime of the Beeper platform — it’ll keep complimentary,” Bagaria stated. “Clay is a tremendous app [as it] works at this time. Then, with Beaver, it might probably simply ingest extra interactions and knowledge, which is able to make it like 2x to 10x higher. As soon as that’s completed, I’m certain Clay is usually a very highly effective product.”
Beeper at this time has hundreds of thousands of registered customers, together with these from Texts.com. A small portion of those that are nonetheless utilizing Texts.com are actually being supplied the choice emigrate to Beeper, because it has added the on-device know-how, which they like.
Bagaria stated there should still be some remaining points round reliability when shifting to the on-device mannequin, however these are being labored out as edge instances pop up. At some later level, Beeper Cloud will probably be deprecated as soon as the corporate is bound the on-device mannequin is able to being everybody’s day by day driver.
Additional down the street, Beeper goals to make its knowledge out there to different firms, with consumer permission and controls to guard privateness. As an illustration, an MCP (mannequin context protocol) Beeper sooner or later may let customers join to talk apps by way of Claude or ChatGPT to ask it issues like “summarize all my necessary messages from this night.”
These developments will take a while, as Bagaria says he’s additionally a “very privacy-conscious consumer,” and would desire a resolution that’s very clear about what knowledge is accessed and when, and one that permits customers to even manually say sure or no to knowledge requests, maybe.
“We additionally don’t need to have server farms the place we’ve fashions skilled in your knowledge. That’s a whole no-no,” he stated.
