Android Users Can Soon Add Emoji Reactions to iPhone Texts With Annoying Catch

[MacRumors]

Google today announced that Android users will be able to add emoji reactions to SMS texts received from iPhone users in Google's Messages app. This feature and other improvements to the app will begin rolling out in the coming weeks.

Given that the Messages app on iOS lacks support for the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol, emoji reactions from Android users will appear as annoying follow-up SMS text messages on the iPhone, according to CNET. For example, the message will say something along the lines of "Joe reacted with Heart to 'let's go to the movies tonight.'"

Google's head of its Messages app Jan Jedrzejowicz told CNET that it will be up to Apple to decide whether or not to parse those texts into the appropriate Tapback reaction on the iPhone, similar to how Tapbacks now appear properly on Android.

The feature seems to be at least partly an attempt at Google encouraging Apple to support RCS on the iPhone, as this would eliminate the annoying follow-up SMS messages. Google launched a campaign earlier this year pushing for Apple to adopt RCS, but Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested the feature has not been highly requested by iPhone users.

Article Link: Android Users Can Soon Add Emoji Reactions to iPhone Texts With Annoying Catch

 

[TheLisnakFactor]

Gotta love a good ‘ol fashion swinging d*** contest. Piss off the users of the other platform so that platform makes a change. I bet apple reacts and implements proper support rather soon. Can we get a poll going?

 

[rjohnstone]

iMessage already does the exact same thing to an Android user.
When ever an iMessage user likes a message from an android user, it does the exact same thing. Sends a separate text message that the reader like your text.

 

[BenGoren]

See, that’s the glorious thing about standards: there are so many to pick from, which means you can have yours all to yourself.

b&

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I have major trust issues with Android phones. Hopefully, Google will not collect any data from iPhone users.

 

[StuBeck]

I don't really see a problem here. Android users get the same response in SMS when I like their message. Maybe rather than fighting, we could just get the two companies to work together to not hurt consumers?

 

[MallardDuck]

Why would Apple invest any time and money supporting a proprietary google fork of RCS, especially when google's commitment to a technology lasts about as long as a civil conversation on social media?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

I don't really see a problem here. Android users get the same response in SMS when I like their message. Maybe rather than fighting, we could just get the two companies to work together to not hurt consumers?

Sure can but it's the privacy and collecting data that comes into play. Google seems to be very good at that.

 

[sw1tcher]

sw1tcher reacted with a Roll Eyes and Face Palm to "Android Users Can Soon Add Emoji Reactions to iPhone Texts With Annoying Catch"

 

[sully54]

Google makes this seem like a heinous thing. I don’t mind it. I’ll happily live with this compromise and stick to iMessage.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

iMessage already does the exact same thing to an Android user.
When ever an iMessage user likes a message from an android user, it does the exact same thing. Sends a separate text message that the reader like your text.

I don't really see a problem here. Android users get the same response in SMS when I like their message. Maybe rather than fighting, we could just get the two companies to work together to not hurt consumers?

That's not true anymore actually. Google fixed it earlier this year:

 

[rjohnstone]

Sure can but it's the privacy and collecting data that comes into play. Google seems to be very good at that.

So you never text anyone who owns a non-Apple device?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

So you never text anyone who owns a non-Apple device?

I try not to. If I do. There are major boundaries and limitations set.

 

[GMShadow]

So you never text anyone who owns a non-Apple device?

I tell them I don't speak broke. /s

 

[fwmireault]

I know it’s a very unpopular opinion here, but all of the efforts in the past year to improve text communications between iPhones and android have been made by Google, and it is a shame that Apple is doing nothing on their end. Don’t know if RCS is the necessary answer, but it is as terrible for android and iPhone users to have all this mismatch in features and functionalities

Downvote that all you want, this is what I really think, and I will certainly not defend Apple on that

 

[sw1tcher]

I have major trust issues with Android phones. Hopefully, Google will not collect any data from iPhone users.

If Apple is okay with making Google the default search engine on their devices and Apple cares so much about our privacy, then that means Google is safe, right?

You need to trust Apple's deci$ion$. Apple knows what's be$t for us them.

 

[GMShadow]

I know it’s a very unpopular opinion here, but all of the efforts in the past year to improve text communications between iPhones and android have been made by Google, and it is a shame that Apple is doing nothing on their end. Don’t know if RCS is the necessary answer, but it is as terrible for android and iPhone users to have all this mismatch in features and functionalities

Downvote that all you want, this is what I really think, and I will certainly not defend Apple on that

So you're saying we should give a glass of ice water to the people in hell again?

 

[DonutHands]

Gotta love a good ‘ol fashion swinging d*** contest. Piss off the users of the other platform so that platform makes a change. I bet apple reacts and implements proper support rather soon. Can we get a poll going?

Right? Apple is such a d!ck.

 

[Unity451]

This is the exact reason why I've severed communication with anyone still carrying an Android. My life is bluer because of it

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I never use the tapback feature, am I the only one?

 

[DonutHands]

See, that’s the glorious thing about standards: there are so many to pick from, which means you can have yours all to yourself.

b&

Closed systems and open standards are very different things.

 

[fwmireault]

So you're saying we should give a glass of ice water to the people in hell again?

Don’t know what answer you expect. We can pretend to live in a world where android users don’t exist. But they exist, and they are a fair share of the user base. Also, if you remove your fanboy glasses, there is nothing wrong to use Android. So why is Apple not trying to make the experience better for both kind of users when they use native message services?

 

[robbietop]

Google needs to explain to iPhone users how RCS is so much better than what we've had the last ten years and why we should support it when Google up and abandoned Hangouts, YouTube Originals, Currents, OnHub, BackupandSync/Drive (still functional, but not anything close to competition), Play Music, Nest Secure, STADIA, FiberTV (I signed up for it, was canceled 3 months after sign up, thanks), Works With Nest API (was great for IFTTT), Trips (Was actually easy to use), Allo, URL shortener, Chromecast Audio (rendered my friend's stereo useless for wireless until he got an iPhone), Google Glass (was supposed to be a revolutionary product, was a dud), Spaces, NEXUS (replaced by somewhat better thought out Pixel), Noop (nope!), Sparrow (couldn't handle competition), Desktop (solved Windows XP's inferiority to Mac OS 10.4), etc.

Google treats new projects like that guy who has a girlfriend for about a year before moving on to the next victim. The first few months are all lovey dovey! "She's amazing, the greatest, other competing phone makers want her! She's a moonshot!"

Then it's "She's great, can't live without her! We're working really hard for a long term thing!"

Then it's This update fixes bugs and improves efficiency - 10/12/2014

Then it's "We have decided to shut down <Insert Moonshot #1,124, 239, 048> due to fluctuating priorities. Final support ends on 09/24/2016. Thank you to all our users who barely made it 2 years with our product/service/"moonshot"! We'll dupe you again in about six months with another "half-moonshot half thought through and half-assed that we will dump into the Pixel 8 Plus Pro Max!"

Most iPhone users think: "iMessage works fine, why does Apple have to fix Google's issue?"

 

[Xenden]

Yeah. Trying to force Apple’s hand will work real well.

 

[foobarbaz]

This won't work because of Apple's limited tapback "vocabulary". I hope they eventually expand it to all emoji. At least give us an "OK" reaction. I feel like I need that multiple times a day.