We've created an updated version of Beeper Mini that fixes an issue that caused messages not to be sent or received.
We even added in a few new feature improvements: chats now open at the last unread message, and we polished the video player a bit!
No but a large portion of the world uses WhatsApp. Personally, since it became a Meta application I want to move away from it. Doing so though is not easily done without mass adoption. You're highly dependent on your other contacts.
I was hoping RCS will be the next best thing. But I won't be holding my breath.