Show HN: Amber – better Beeper, a modern all-in-one messenger
59 comments
·September 2, 2025emaro
Cool, I like to see more innovation in this space.
You obviously have different needs than what Beeper provides, but claiming it's better when you only support a fraction of the networks is a bit steep imo.
Curious what other networks you plan to support and what are your monetization plans?
I really like the addition of folders and CRM features compared to Beeper.
The networks I'm interested in are Telegram (you already got that), Signal, Instagram, Matrix, Threema, Slack and Teams (in that order).
kingnothing
Not what I want to see from the homepage for an app that wants to read all of my messages.
> Secure Connection Failed
> An error occurred during a connection to useamber.app. PR_CONNECT_RESET_ERROR
CryptoBanker
Are you on a work computer/network? Your IT department may be blocking things as mine is
DmitryDolgopolo
lmao
Seems like a DNS issue. Are you using VPN? We used Framer to host the site.
DmitryDolgopolo
The Framer team wonders if you continue experiencing the same issue if you use a different browser. Hope this is helpful.
kylecordes
These tools always fall short, not because the teams making them are bad, but because the underlying chat tools they build on are adversarial to the idea of a third-party UI replacing their UI. A new entrant might escape their ire for a while, of course.
ohcmon
This is super cool, but unfortunately has to be open source and with signed reproducible builds.
Imustaskforhelp
I think beeper does have folders right?
Also the fact is that I don't need AI included into this software.
Its nice that it never touches your server but beeper is also moving forward in that direction and beeper is also open source and uses the matrix protocol so you can actually be free to use any matrix clients.
What about yours? As someone who uses beeper for talking with insta chats with my friends, I have no regrets picking beeper.
Defletter
> Also the fact is that I don't need AI included into this software.
Yup, the fact that every new service now is AI-first is troubling... it's literally the first thing said about Amber when going on their website. My tab says "Amber — AI-enabled all-in-on...". It's like the only thing they want you to know about their service.
emaro
I don't think Beeper is Open Source. They published some of their bridges, but the client is closed source afaik.
jshchnz
as much as i want something like this to exist... fool me once, shame on thee; fool me twice, shame on me
with that being said, good luck!
DmitryDolgopolo
thanks
hmokiguess
Are there any open source clients for this out there? Also, if someone were to build that, what are the protocols one would even use to get these things talking to each other and reconciling the different accounts quirks
Jonovono
I think most of these are built using Matrix: https://matrix.org. They have connections with most providers like iMessage, FB, Instagram, etc
swyx
ok is there an "open source beeper" that has emerged that i can play with? cant use amber because closed source
tulir
The bridges made for Beeper are all open source (https://github.com/mautrix/), so you can set up your own Matrix server with bridges and use any open source Matrix client (https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/).
Besides Beeper, the only consumer bridge hosting service I'm aware of is Element One, but it's only barely maintained, so I'd definitely recommend self-hosting over that.
sjdrc
You write all messages multiple times, them clarify it's only 3 services. Stop that. If it doesn't support everything mainstream, don't claim "all".
devilkin
Before I would even consider something like this:
* Where's your privacy policy?
* What/how are you handling the different customer protection laws? What juristictions are you working in? Where's the data hosted?
* Where's the design description?
* What encryption are you actually using? If you rolled your own, then well.. good luck.
* How could you ensure end-to-end encryption over multiple protocols, without either completely reverse engineering said protocols? If your answer here would be that you're using a central server where messages get passed between services (and thus decrypted), it isn't end-to-end.
The site is also very flaky. Sometimes it loads, sometimes it doesn't. There are so many questions, and zero answers.
DmitryDolgopolo
- Yep. You can read our privacy policy here: https://dimadolgopolovn.notion.site/Amber-Privacy-Policy-256... - Check out the demo in the original post. - We use native API or reverse-engineer a solution depending on the platform. This approach maintains the security standard as high as the original app. Everything is done locally on your computer.
devilkin
At that point calling it end-to-end encrypted is not true.
j4hdufd8
Can you elaborate where you think it stops being encrypted?
warkdarrior
What definition of "end-to-end encrypted" do you refer to, if on-device processing does not qualify? Isn't your device one of the endpoints in E2EE?
giancarlostoro
> The site is also very flaky. Sometimes it loads, sometimes it doesn't.
That's probably the HN front page effect to be fair.
busymom0
Something is weird about the javascript or CSS on the site. When I first scroll down, many things didn't animate and didn't show. When I scroll up and then scroll back down again, then they animated in.
dotancohen
I'm most interested in the CRM. I'm a Linux and Android user, so there's currently nothing for me to try, but a page dedicated to the CRM features might get my email address on your mailing list.
Good luck!
DmitryDolgopolo
Thanks for the feedback
thedumbname
Light mode and Apple font please
ajsnigrutin
Three random services only, and "AI" for some reasons...
Pidgin at least supports service plugins and many more protocols, and doesn't have AI, which is a big plus when we're talking about private messaging.
dingnuts
AI feeding into a "private" database, so after the keylogger sends everything to OpenAI you can have a garbage summary!
Or if it uses a local model, enjoy the warmth and sound of your GPU while it consumes all of your system resources for instant messaging on, well, as you put it, three random services
but you know he tried Beeper!!!
DmitryDolgopolo
Our users (including top founders and VCs) usually trust us with the AI features because it saves time and thinking.
However, you can turn off the AI features if you're into full privacy. :)
giancarlostoro
> However, you can turn off the AI features if you're into full privacy. :)
I think marketing for AI should always start off with "Includes opt-in AI features should you want them" instead of just "HEY WE HAVE AI" I feel like it would make a lot of people close the browser tab much later than expected.
Hi HN! Excited to share early access to Amber.
I’ve tried every all-in-one messenger out there (Beeper included) but they always fell short. No real folders, no AI, clunky UI, no CRM features… As a founder who speaks with hundreds of people every quarter, I needed something better. So I decided to rebuild the entire experience from ground up.
Thoughts from one of our users: "The app I've been searching for for a looong time."
Check it out for free today!
Demo: https://www.loom.com/share/8b5bc80b9893436b9190ae41fc3f0f50
Features: - All messages (Whatsapp, Telegram, iMessage) unified in a beautifully crafted interface. - Split inboxes (folders) to effortlessly focus on work, friends, a particular project.. whatever matters the most right now. - Mark read – no read receipts (even on Whatsapp and Telegram), mark done only when you’re done. - Personal CRM: a lightweight private database of knowledge about each person with (optional) AI pulling important facts straight from conversations. (the latter is coming soon) - Command bar + shortcuts. - Send later + reminders.
Everything is securely stored on-device. All messages are end-to-end encrypted and go straight from your device to the network of choice – never touching our servers.