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We have no idea if this is how Apple will handle RCS messages.
rcs universal profile defines the ability to remove someone from a group chat. even in universal profile 1.0 says if someone wants to leave the group, they should be able to and the conversation carries on without them. if apple doesn't implement this, they would not be considered an rcs universal profile. apple specifically said they're adopting the universal profile.

2. As hinted to above, this is Apple making the OS worse. They could make these contacts removable from a group chat, they choose not to

uh no. that's not how sms works. not even on my pixel device with sms group chat lets me leave the group. there is no technical capability for someone to leave an sms group and everyone's phones update the members of the group.

rcs universal profile 1.0 defines anyone who wants to leave a group chat, they can and people still in the group can continue the conversation without sending new messages to the person that left. this is a requirement, not optional. therefore apple is required to implement this user story and this is something new to learn that previously was not available on sms groups before. my point stands.

you don't know what you're talking about.


3. There are plenty of simple, subtle, basic UI tweaks they could use to differentiate sms and RCS. Whether they will or not is up to them to do the job properly, but that is again you just guessing.

Do you have anything that’s not just something you’ve made up?

you mean the rcs universal profile document? I can link it to you. hilarious you think I made these rules up.
 
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rcs universal profile defines the ability to remove someone from a group chat. even in universal profile 1.0 says if someone wants to leave the group, they should be able to and the conversation carries on without them.
So then what are you complaining about? Being able to leave a group chat is the way it should be?

uh no. that's not how sms works. not even on my pixel device with sms group chat lets me leave the group. there is no technical capability for someone to leave an sms group and everyone's phones update the members of the group.
Okay, I stand corrected about SMS. But as you said above, that’s not the case with RCS so what’s the problem?

rcs universal profile 1.0 defines anyone who wants to leave a group chat, they can and people still in the group can continue the conversation without sending new messages to the person that left. this is a requirement, not optional. therefore apple is required to implement this user story and this is something new to learn that previously was not available on sms groups before. later versions of universal profile defines the initiator of the group may remove anyone from the group. my point stands.

you don't know what you're talking about.
Now I’m really confused. You’re complaining that this is going to work the way you want it to work? People still don’t have to know that that’s how that aspect of it works to use RCS. They could always learn later and their experience will improve, but until then they’ll still benefit from better quality images and videos etc.

You’re essentially complaining that this is going to work too well for people to understand.

you mean the rcs universal profile document? I can link it to you.
Lol, no thanks, if I wanted to try make your argument for you I would have looked it up. There’s nothing here that people would have to learn in order to seamlessly start using RCS. There are improvements they could learn, but nothing they have to learn.
 
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This may have something to do with oneplus making an iMessage app for their phones. better to have an Apple version than some other third party app.
Not related at all… announcements like these are months in the making.
I actually have an android device as well but I don’t really know how this even works like does your provider have to support it? Do you have to enable it? Or does it automatically use it when you start sending files instead of just texts? Confused. I never used MMS because it was discontinued years ago and before that it was like 49 cent per message
Apple will just copy Googles approach and create their own RCS Hub that manages all of this for you. It‘ll most likely automatically activate together with iMessage once it‘s out and be seamless.
I would bet apple does something stupid like "adopt" RCS but intentionally hide features like typing indicators and replies, just because.
They adopt the Universal Profile, so they do the minimum feature sets required to comply. That‘s not intentionally hiding features, it‘s merely trying to comply with the standard (and not be like Google, creating frankensteins RCS instead of pushing the standard further). Typing indicators are part of the spec, so they‘ll be offered.
See?? I told yall if they adopted RCS it would be the UP and not Google's version. So it really doesn't amount to anything unless Google's will cross-communicate with UP, which I haven't seen whether it will or not. But beyond that, it's still up to your provider to adopt it on their end or it doesn't matter.
UP means it‘s cross-compatible with other UP-compliant clients (Googles is compliant). You don‘t need any input from your provider, this‘ll be 100% Apple provided and controlled.
Huge news.

Avoid this was a bad look for Apple, and blew apart what they claim about not locking people into the ecosystem but instead selling iPhones only on quality.

This also probably means that iMessage is going to get some major new features that quantum leap it ahead. It might even mean that iMessage will no longer exist. Ooh, I wonder if Apple's going to try and unify messaging...? Email, messages, and other things all in one app? It's about time. It's a PITA trying to find a message from a loved one or colleague across several different apps.
They specifically mention iMessage going nowhere and being the best way of texting for iPhone users…
Well wasn’t FaceTime and iMessage supposed to be an open standard when it was announced?
Only FaceTime was announced as an open standard. iMessage was „pitched to carriers“ before it was iMessage, but carriers declined due to things like E2EE, so Apple rolled out what‘s now known iMessage as an ecosystem exclusive, proprietary messaging protocol.
The key phrase here is "adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association." Google has built proprietary stuff on top of this and I'm quite certain Apple's standards-based implementation will not completely mesh with Google's proprietary version.
It‘ll mesh exactly where it needs to mesh. Googles standard is pretty much all fluff and gimmicks (things happening on the individual clients app) with very few groundbreaking / worthwhile features.
Android interopterbility arguments aside, my concern is: this standard was formulated by telecom industy, any concerns about how they will put users through the wringer down the line? Back to the days of 5 cents per "rich texts"?
It‘s already out for years and works over mobile data / wifi. They monetize it via RCS Business functionality.
 
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So then what are you complaining about? Being able to leave a group chat is the way it should be?

literally part of answering your question about 'Why would they have to know?'

it's ridiculous you don't remember why I'm explaining these things.
Okay, I stand corrected about SMS. But as you said above, that’s not the case with RCS so what’s the problem?

again, I'm answering your question about why would they have to know. they have to know what rcs is to know which users/groups allow for removable users or not. or how the fact that a group initiator can kick anyone out from the group and the user wonders why they can't continue chatting in the group. this never happened before in green bubble sms groups. again, user needs to learn what rcs is.

literally answering your own question and you're complaining about me doing just that. ridiculous.


Now I’m really confused

it's clear you forgot your own question so I'm not going to continue this conversation with you. frustrating.
 
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literally part of answering your question about 'Why would they have to know?'

it's ridiculous you don't remember why I'm explaining these things.

again, I'm answering your question about why would they have to know. they have to know what rcs is to know which users/groups allow for removable users or not.

it's clear you forgot your own question so I'm not going to continue this conversation with you. frustrating.
I didn’t forget my own question, I just expected you to have an answer that makes sense. You’re acting like people are going to have to completely relearn how to send text messages when in reality nothing about their use has to change if they’re not interested in learning more. You’re complaining about a non-issue.

I know people who use iMessage the same way as they use regular SMS. They’re missing out on a bunch of features, but it’s not like they ever had to learn what iMessage is in order to use it. They just pick a contact and start typing. It’s a seamless transition.
 
Is it more stupid or less stupid than the current interoperability between iMessage and SMS/MMS?
We'll see, I suspect it is a mixed bag. What Google calls RCS is actually a series of extensions around the Google Client talking to the Google Server - Google supplies the vast majority of RCS backend hosted infrastructure.

This means that many of Google's features aren't actually designed to work once there are other RCS clients or servers involved, including their extension to add E2E encryption. So far Apple has been pretty explicit - they plan to support the standard profile. Until Google documents certain features and possibly redesigns them to work with third party vendors, then submits them for standardization to GSMA, there will likely be significant feature disparity.

I suspect Apple is really not a fan of how this move will effectively mean that Google has a hosted server which now will know which phone numbers belong to iPhone users, and that they'll have plaintext access to the messages those users are sending over RCS. That is arguably worse for privacy than SMS/MMS.
 
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Which I've never understood because the Messages app icon is green...so you would think they'd have made that blue if blue is the superior color in the debate...
I made a blue variant myself when the ability to add shortcuts to homescreen was added, but got sick of the shortcuts notification and lack of badge icon.

Sidenote, shortcuts should have the option to disable notifications when performed, especially automations, if created instead of imported. The only reason to force a notification in my mind is if you unintentionally imported a shortcut that is malicious or if one you created is erratic.
 
This only really applies to the US as the rest of the world moved on years ago and uses Whatsapp or Telegram. Just Apple trying to cling onto the American user base of iMessage. Although Apple and the diehards make it sound like they're doing the world a favour as usual.
 
As long as they keep RCS a green bubble I’m ok with it. Also, RCS (as a standard) still lacks end-to-end encryption. Also, iMessage is likely going to get further enhancements that RCS isn’t capable of bringing.

Side note: RCS is hit or miss. Requires LTE to work.
 
This only really applies to the US as the rest of the world moved on years ago and uses Whatsapp or Telegram. Just Apple trying to cling onto the American user base of iMessage. Although Apple and the diehards make it sound like they're doing the world a favour as usual.
Nobody cares. We like iMessage in the states. If other populations want to use other apps, fine. But why do you care what we choose to use?
 
Is that green/blue bubble really a social issue in North America? If Apple finally adopts RCS, then even if the colors remain, it should mean almost nothing. There will be some minor differences, because Apple, but almost everything should be as good as iMessage. From an EU perspective, the issue looks weird and ridiculous, but I get both sides... money money money.
 
The real purpose of Google and EU complaining is that iMessage is an ecosystem gem that they are keen to break.
They aren’t breaking it.

They are making messaging across smartphone platforms intercompatible. Using an open, standard-based system (that doesn’t require third-party apps and as registering and sending all your messages through Meta‘s WhatsApp).

Which is a great thing for consumers.
Apple should leave the EU market rather than break it's ecosystem.
Their ecosystem won’t be going anyway. Apple‘s decision to support RCS is likely pre-empting and preventing regulatory action
Apple should leave the EU market rather than break it's ecosystem. Close all the European stores and offices. Fire everyone. Setup shop in the UK. Europeans will still import them because that's how strong the product is. Send the EU dictators a message
Apple is in the business of making money - not in the business of sending messages.

They are, in fact, so much in the business of making money that they‘ve broken their ecosystem by having iCloud being operated by a Chinese company in China and given the encryption keys to China.

That should tell you how likely they‘re going to give up 20% or so of their worldwide revenue.
 
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Nobody cares. We like iMessage in the states. If other populations want to use other apps, fine. But why do you care what we choose to use?
I don’t think the person actually cares what messaging app you use.
It just seems to be very tribal in America unlike other places.
This is all to do with most carriers are now adopting RCS as standard & the European Union are looking into iMessage as being a gatekeeper app.
 
Fascinating that it is ‘a thing’.

Is RCS even supported by carriers outside the US yet?
Here in the UK, I have exactly 1 contact out of 2.6K who used iMessage. Telegram, Instagram, Facebook Messenger are all orders of magnitude more popular than iMessage. WhatsApp has been the universal standard for about 8-10 years. They are completely dominating the market. The UK government famously ‘runs’ on WhatsApp. 99.9% of my use of the Messages app is for 2FA codes. The last time I sent and received an MMS, it turns out, was on an iPhone 3GS.
 
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The standard that Apple will be supporting seems to be RCS Universal Profile.

Which basically is the standard as set out by GSMA. Which differs from Google's implementation in that, if you use Google's message app, you get E2EE.

That means, should Apple follow RCS Universal Profile, you would get everything it seems except... E2EE.

And even worse. I found this little gem in the GSMA documentation.

"No End-To-End Encryption, however hop to hop encryption is used to support lawful interception."

So, Google to Google, encrypted.

Apple to Apple, iMessage, encrypted.

Google to Apple. Apple to Google. Not Encrypted.

Just need Apple to just say - However, messaging your friends on Android is not encrypted. It's the standard, you see...
 
If Apple succeeds in pushing for and implementing an independent universal standard for E2E in RCS, then they very well may have something to say.
Not necessarily, yes in the context of Text and fie ( ir pictures and pre recorded videos) it will probablu negate the need for whatsapp over time, but are apple going to implement rcs for facetime as well,? quite a lot of people use whatsapp for video calls between apple and android devices
 
literally part of answering your question about 'Why would they have to know?'

it's ridiculous you don't remember why I'm explaining these things.


again, I'm answering your question about why would they have to know. they have to know what rcs is to know which users/groups allow for removable users or not. or how the fact that a group initiator can kick anyone out from the group and the user wonders why they can't continue chatting in the group. this never happened before in green bubble sms groups. again, user needs to learn what rcs is.

literally answering your own question and you're complaining about me doing just that. ridiculous.




it's clear you forgot your own question so I'm not going to continue this conversation with you. frustrating.

Getting tired of people who don't even try to understand what this entails. There is no relearning of RCS what is, lol.
 
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NIH is classic Apple. Why do you think they had to come out with Apple Lossless when just adding FLAC support to iTunes would have been better for everyone?
Wasn't there soothing about the codecs that apparently made them a bit to power hungry for mobile, IIRC it seamd like the relevant codecs where hard to get hw acceleration for.There is ofc always a bit of NIHbut that is bu no means exclusive to apple.
 
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