The dispute between Apple and Beeper Mini might be wrapping up soon, but Apple could have more problems coming.

Four people in Congress wrote a letter to the Department of Justice asking them to investigate if Apple broke any rules against unfair business practices when they went after Beeper Mini.

This comes after a big argument between Apple and Beeper that split people into two sides. Some thought it was good that Beeper tried to put iMessage on Android phones to go against Apple only letting you use their stuff.

Others baked for Apple and said they had the right to stop Beeper Mini from getting into their iMessage servers without permission.

Lawmakers Call for Antitrust Probe into Apple's Actions Against Beeper Mini

A recent dispatch from Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee, together with Congressman Jerrold Nadler and Ken Buck, got passed around on X, formerly known as Twitter, catching the eye of journalist Jo Ling Kent.

The four lawmakers expressed concerns over Apple's most recent actions towards Beeper Mini, suggesting it could negatively impact competition among companies, limit choices for customers, and slow potential advancements in messaging services that can connect.

Their letter to the Antitrust Division requested an investigation into if Apple's behavior broke antitrust laws. It was noted that the bipartisan-endorsed dispatch had been forwarded to the DOJ, signaling a probable inquiry.

However, it was emphasized that the letter only asked for and held no legal weight.

As for Beeper Mini, the app became the first to break into iMessage, letting Android phones join Apple's servers. But shortly after its debut, the app experienced a widespread outage and was shut down by Apple, who said they planned to keep it that way.

Ever since Beeper Mini first went online on December 5th to let Android users use iMessage, the company has faced tons of troubles from Apple trying to shut down both the app and older server set up by Beeper Cloud.

Problems and mess-ups hit Beeper Cloud and Beeper Mini from December 8.

By December 13, Beeper said that iMessage didn't get through to about 5% of Beeper Mini users and that Apple did it on purpose. When asked about closing it down, Apple's top PR lady Nadine Haija talked about how they tried to protect users by stopping fake logins from getting iMessage.

Even though Beeper tried many times throughout the week to get its stuff regularly working again, as of December 17, Eric Migicovsky, who made Beeper Cloud, said over 60% of Beeper users couldn't send or get "messages."

iMessage Exclusivity: Apple's Strategy and the Debate Over Interoperability

iMessage has been a big part of the iPhone experience since 2011. Even though Apple has opened up its phones and stuff more lately, putting iMessage on Android phones doesn't look too good. Analysts think Apple wants to control what works with their products.

So, keeping iMessage just on iPhones keeps things simpler for them. The European Commission seems to agree that iMessage should stay the iPhone way.

While getting Android phones and iPhones to message each other better with RCS could help some, it's unclear whether Apple wants to focus on that.