Multi-service messaging app Beeper, which permits folks to connect with all their chat apps from one interface, is relaunching its app on Wednesday to supply a safer model that now not requires use of its personal cloud providers. As well as, Beeper is introducing premium choices that present entry to extra accounts than its free tier and embody power-user options like reminders, the power to ship messages later, an incognito mode to learn messages with out marking them learn, AI voice notice transcriptions, and extra.
Now owned by WordPress.com maker Automattic, which purchased Beeper for $125 million in 2024, the app has nearly solely built-in with competitor Texts.com, which Automattic additionally acquired the yr prior for $50 million.
With a mixed 30-person crew (together with contractors) and now working below 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 can even join customers with their iMessage chats, although Apple has shut down this entry in prior variations.
The general objective, in accordance with Automattic, is to simplify the issue of getting too many messaging apps to maintain up with, whereas additionally conserving these chats safe.
The app beforehand first linked with Beeper Cloud earlier than speaking with the messaging community, mentioned 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 advised TechCrunch in an interview forward of the app’s relaunch. Whether or not the businesses concerned will admire having their very own apps bypassed, nonetheless, stays to be seen.
“We’ve good relationships with a few of these corporations, and a few of them are OK with this,” Bagaria mentioned. “Others, we now have 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 every time potential. For instance, if Telegram is exhibiting advertisements, these advertisements will likely be proven in Beeper, too.
As well as, EU rules requiring that messaging platforms be interoperable might put stress on messaging app suppliers to go away an answer like Beeper’s alone.
Alongside the relaunch, there’ll now be an choice to improve to a brand new $9.99 per 30 days premium plan, Beeper Plus, which permits customers to attach with 10 messaging providers 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 observe 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 notice transcriptions (processed by way of OpenAI’s Whisper mannequin with consumer consent), and swap out their app icon for a customized model.
A good larger tier, Beeper Plus Plus, which begins at $49.99 per 30 days, provides entry to limitless accounts and is designed with the wants of companies or social media managers in thoughts. (Annual subscriptions are additionally accessible at a reduced worth of $99.99 per yr for Beeper Plus and $499 per yr for Beeper Plus Plus.)
After Automattic acquired Beeper, the corporate mixed its crew with Texts.com to develop a brand new product that provided one of the best of each providers. With Wednesday’s relaunch, these apps at the moment are 99% built-in, Bagaria mentioned, as just a few smaller options stay to be ported over.
Ultimately, Automattic’s newest acquisition, the non-public CRM Clay, which can later be rebranded, can even be built-in with Beeper, although it’ll stay a stand-alone app.
“It is going to principally be constructed on prime of the Beeper platform — it’ll keep complimentary,” Bagaria mentioned. “Clay is an incredible app [as it] works immediately. Then, with Beeper, it will possibly simply ingest extra interactions and knowledge, which is able to make it like 2x to 10x higher. As soon as that’s carried out, I’m certain Clay is usually a very highly effective product.”
Beeper immediately has hundreds of thousands of registered customers, together with these from Texts.com. A small portion of those that are nonetheless utilizing Texts.com at the moment are being provided the choice emigrate to Beeper, because it has added the on-device expertise, which they like.
Bagaria mentioned there should still be some remaining points round reliability when transferring to the on-device mannequin, however these are being labored out as edge instances pop up. At some later level, Beeper Cloud will likely be deprecated as soon as the corporate is bound the on-device mannequin is able to being everybody’s each day driver.
Additional down the highway, Beeper goals to make its knowledge accessible to different corporations, with consumer permission and controls to guard privateness. For example, an MCP (mannequin context protocol) Beeper sooner or later might let customers join to speak apps by way of Claude or ChatGPT to ask it issues like “summarize all my essential 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 enables customers to even manually say sure or no to knowledge requests, maybe.
“We additionally don’t wish to have server farms the place we now have fashions educated in your knowledge. That’s a whole no-no,” he mentioned.
