That is a great point! If apple does this they will be joining Google with cross platform messaging.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Rumored to Be Debuting iMessage for Android at WWDC
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You will need an apple ID but that can be a Gmail address and having that will not result in your photos suddenly being backed up to iCloud or requiring you to have iCloud space for iMessage. Your messages are not stored on the cloud, merely forwarded onto your devices signed into your apple ID.
On iOS this expanded to allow standard SMS forwarding too. Meaning even my non iMessage texts can be read on my ipad, phones and Mac and replied to from there.
It allows me for example to reply to a text message (not necessarily an iMessage) received on my phone despite it being in the glove compartment of my car 100 yards away, whilst i am in the gym using an iPod touch connected to WiFi. I reply on my iPod touch, Apple then forward that to my phone and it sends it out as a sms ....
It's the seamless integration of digital messaging and offering similar abilities to standard SMS that is why it's popular on iOS.
It's not being held up as 'im cool because i have iMessage'. It's just something that for the majority of iOS users, just works. It's something they dont have to think about and in many countries SMS is still king of messaging, so the way Apple devices blur the gap, offering facility to a service that normally does not have such is why it's a feature I find particularly useful.
Last edited:
Ah gotcha. Makes sense. I have this with Project Fi + Hangouts. It is nice.
you would think this gives users even more reason to move to android
imessage is what stops alot from switching.
Yep. That's the thing. Project Fi is just so limited by comparison (not service wise), because it's geographically limited compared to the amount of users with iPhones and iOS devices running on multiple carriers all over the world, so opening up the facility to Android users all over the world to avail of something like this is a good thing. Especially as it's optional. However it will be interesting to see if Apple allow it to integrate with SMS or default for SMS on android so it can do all the tricks it can do on iOS and Mac. It would be better if it can. As i say for many of us the world over SMS is still the leading message format.
Yep, Hangouts has a toggle to switch between SMS and online messages for users with both, or just sends SMS for users without a linked Google account. On the other hand, I can still see people installing iMessage on Android, but only if the majority of their friends were on iOS.
Relax, I won't get it still. Android users are split across many platforms competing for iMessage attention including WhatsApp and Telegram, not to mention Google's 3 (?) different services.
[doublepost=1465532288][/doublepost]
Ugh. Get over yourselves and Apple.
WhatsApp is significantly secure. Just because Facebook owns it doesn't mean Facebook can read what you're writing. Facebook Messenger is different than WhatsApp.
Actually, Pushbullet does this and more. But, not a lot of people use it by comparison to iMessage or Whatsapp.
What's wrong with you? Opening it up only makes it more valuable as a platform.
This x1000. If Apple does this they will own the messaging market. Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Google's Fragmented mess of messaging services, they all will pretty much be swept aside. If Apple doesn't do this now, they risk being swept aside for some startup and then it is too little too late.
This is huge. One less barrier to switchers (to Android). Samsung take my money now!
[doublepost=1465536347][/doublepost]
How do I disabled the iOS update dialog I get 4-5 times a day?
Sounds like the same issues whether it's android or iOS. Drink the kool-aid my friend.
[doublepost=1465536347][/doublepost]
LOL. What about News, watch, books apps etc. Apple version of bloatware I can't remove.
How do I disabled the iOS update dialog I get 4-5 times a day?
Sounds like the same issues whether it's android or iOS. Drink the kool-aid my friend.
Apple is known to not rush into new technologies without them being mature enough (most of the times). I believe both these will come on the next years iPhone which may sound too late, but I would rather them execute it perfectly then be the first.
It's true!
And at the end of the day android users are better of trusting Apple with their private conversations than what's app/ Facebook.
[doublepost=1465537917][/doublepost]
Judging by past Apple behaviour, this wild be very true. However they have on occasion provided some freebies. Apple do like to solve "problems" in computing. At the moment most iPhone uses have what's app to get iMessage features with android users. It's annoying to have too many apps doing the same thing and there is a rise in Facebook skeptism, Facebook even said now that what's app is free they will monitise through advertisements based on your conversation.
I wont buy an iPhone unless it gets proper dust and water protection(I need that work wise). I have macs and iPad. So this would be a very good move for me.
I never use my android phone to anything else than some odd photos and skype through vpn. But mostly as hotspot for my other devices. Price is no issue, it is the lack of toughness. So I welcome the iMessage to andrioid. But my biggest wish though is an endurable and solid protected iPhone without clumsy covers.
iMessage on Android is a great thing.....for iOS users. Android users already have their workarounds, as noted by many posters there are lots of alternatives, cross platform, out there.
If the rumours are true I suspect this will only be successful if iOS folk nag our friends into downloading the app!
If the rumours are true I suspect this will only be successful if iOS folk nag our friends into downloading the app!
I don't think it was going to be open source but I remember him saying it was going to be an open standard. From what I have heard from developers the protocol that Apple uses is similar to that of XMPP with h264/aac for video but that is only based on rumours I heard which probably cannot be 100% verified unless Apple came out and said how the protocol worked.
Privacy focused individuals are a minority. Most people would trade privacy for free stuff (i.e. Google & Facebook). That's the whole problem Apple has: what services does it sell or offer that are actually better than Google or Facebook? (The correct answer is 'None').
Facebook & Google can offer free services because they monetize the information they get about you. Apple takes the opposite approach. But, let's say Apple does offer iMessage on Android, what would be the value added? The fact that it works with iOS? That's it? WeChat, SnapChat, ZYXMessenger are all cross platform.
The only possible route I could see going forward is for Apple to make iMessage an open standard. Have it baked into all of the messaging platforms themselves. Google Hangouts, Messenger, WeChat, blahblahblah, could all work with iMessage with minimal cost to Apple. But still, this is a huge risk, since it makes switching much easier.
Not if your parents are technologically illiterate and can barely manage to work one messaging platform. Getting them to signup for another messaging platform, and getting all of my extended family to do it when they all have iPhones is pointless. You're right, iMessage, functionally, isn't that different, but trying to get 10 people to switch to using a different APP just because one person doesn't wanna use it, is stupid.
So yeah, iMessage is a crucial feature to me, otherwise, I wouldn't be able to communicate with the vast majority of my extended family. If iMessage worked with Hangouts or WeChat or WhatsApp, that would be a game changer. But, like I said before, I don't know what incentive Apple has to achieve that level of cross platform.
My parents are exactly as you picture them, this is why I have 2 messenger installed in my phone
Better to have 2 messenger than to switch brand.And or you could teach them to use only one ....whazzapp is cross platform, they only need to learn 1
Last edited:
Ever had a group iMessage with one or more non-iPhone participants? They tend to fall apart. Not so much on WhatsApp or iMessage.
B
OK, skim read all the posts this far so forgive me if this has been said before.
IF, big IF, iMessage and FaceTime were truly cross-platform (iCloud web interface and Android, iOS, OSX and Windows apps) with existing/enhanced functionality of/over current iOS/OSX releases then potentially "Apple Messaging" is a big sales tool for Apple - if it does truly "just work" seamlessly everywhere some of their potential consumer market will notice the "just work" bit and be attracted to try out Apple devices possibly for the first time. That's why I think it makes sense for Apple to do this. Sure they may lose some iPhone sales to Android in the short term but in the long term they could just end up ruling the roost.
That's what happened to me - after years of working with Windows and command-line Unix professionally, because my clients used those platforms, I chanced to stay in a hotel where the in-room infotainment centre was an Apple iMac - after sneering at it as a toy for a few minutes I sat down and actually used it for a while. The following day I went home via an Apple store and I've never voluntarily used Windows since.
From a corporate pov a fully cross-platform encrypted "Apple Messaging" service could be very attractive.
IF, big IF, iMessage and FaceTime were truly cross-platform (iCloud web interface and Android, iOS, OSX and Windows apps) with existing/enhanced functionality of/over current iOS/OSX releases then potentially "Apple Messaging" is a big sales tool for Apple - if it does truly "just work" seamlessly everywhere some of their potential consumer market will notice the "just work" bit and be attracted to try out Apple devices possibly for the first time. That's why I think it makes sense for Apple to do this. Sure they may lose some iPhone sales to Android in the short term but in the long term they could just end up ruling the roost.
That's what happened to me - after years of working with Windows and command-line Unix professionally, because my clients used those platforms, I chanced to stay in a hotel where the in-room infotainment centre was an Apple iMac - after sneering at it as a toy for a few minutes I sat down and actually used it for a while. The following day I went home via an Apple store and I've never voluntarily used Windows since.
From a corporate pov a fully cross-platform encrypted "Apple Messaging" service could be very attractive.