How to set up Beeper: A complete step-by-step guide (2024)

Unified messaging platforms, or chat aggregators, are a great way to keep your growing list of messaging apps in check by letting you access and manage multiple apps from one place. This can help you streamline communication across different services and even devices. Beeper is one such unified chat app that I use on my phone and laptop to manage a whopping amount of messaging apps from a single hub.

Beeper is not without its flaws, but it's easily one of the more reliable options out there. If this is your first time trying a universal chat app, and you're looking to set up Beeper, you've landed on the right page.

Prerequisites: Getting started with Beeper

Beeper needs to be set up on a PC before you can run its mobile app, meaning you can't get started with Beeper without a computer. This is one of the app's downsides, and it looks like there's no way to use just the mobile app alone since it's meant to sync to your account on a PC. This, however, doesn't mean that you need the Beeper app running on your PC at the time for it to work on your phone.

Another thing you need to know is that Beeper is still in closed beta, meaning you'll need an invite to get access. You can click the link below to join the waitlist if you don't have an invite already. I was able to get an invite fairly quickly, but your mileage may vary. At the time of this writing, the form isn't accepting new submissions

Join Beeper waitlist

How to set up Beeper

With the prerequisites out the way, let's take a look at how to set up Beeper from scratch.

1. Download and install Beeper Desktop.
2. Launch the desktop app and enter the email you signed up with to set up your account.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to enter the necessary details.
4. Before you get to the screen where you set up the chat networks, you'll see the option to save a Recovery Code.

   

   

   See Also

   iMessage and Phone Registration Are Back – KindaHow to Join and Access Beeper Using Invite CodeBeeper Desktop - Getting Started Guide

   Beeper doesn't store a copy of your Recovery Code, meaning if you lose your key, you'll lose access to your message history. Save it in a password manager or anywhere you save your passwords.

5. Select the chat networks you want to connect to Beeper and follow the on-screen instructions to get each one of them up and running.

   

   

6. Download Beeper on your Android or iPhone and simply log in using your email.

   

And that's how easy it is to set up Beeper. Every chat network has a different way of logging into Beeper, making it difficult to cover all of them here. WhatsApp, for instance, will let you scan a QR code to connect Beeper to your main account, whereas Instagram will directly ask you to enter a 2FA (assuming you have it enabled) to log in. If you want to use iMessage on Android or a Windows PC, there's a way to do that, too. Thankfully, they're all pretty straightforward, and you should be able to get them up and running by following the on-screen instructions.

Downsides of using Beeper

Beeper, as I mentioned earlier, isn't flawless. The fact you can't set up Beeper without a PC is one of its biggest downsides. It's not necessarily a dealbreaker, but having to use a PC for the setup adds to the overall complexity of the setup process. It's also worth highlighting again that you can't use Beeper at the moment without a valid invite. Beeper says it'll open the app to everyone and introduce a paid subscription model called Beeper Plus with additional features, but there's no potential release window just yet.

Using a unified chat app to "bridge" all your messaging apps together is also less secure than using the apps by themselves. You essentially give Beeper the permission to send and receive messages through other chat networks using your credentials, which may be less secure than using other chat apps alone, especially the end-to-end encrypted ones like Signal and WhatsApp. Beeper says its employees can't read your messages or see your attachments after storing them on Beeper's servers, but you'll have to take its word for it. I strongly suggest reading Beeper's privacy policy and making a conscious decision yourself.

Using Beeper to bring all your chat networks together

I've been using Beeper for the better part of a month now, and it's been pretty good so far. It took me a while to get used to a unified UI for all my chat apps since they look significantly different when used individually, but that's a part of getting used to a new platform. Beeper isn't the only all-in-one messaging solution out there, but it's great solution that lets you use iMessage and RCS, so be sure to give it a shot. So, regardless of which great phone you use, be sure to give it a shot.