Apple to Adopt RCS Messaging Standard for Better Interoperability With Android Devices

[SMH4KIDIOT]

Were that the case, it wouldn't say that Apple was adopting UP. It would say Apple was adopting Jibe. But it's not because they're not the same thing. Jibe is Google's build of RCS, it's not UP. According to jibe dot google dot com Jibe is a platform that supports UP. Therefore it is not UP itself. Jibe also is only supporting Android currently per the GSMA's site.

It really does not take much effort to Google.

By aligning on a universal RCS profile, mobile operators will be able to deploy a consistent RCS implementation, feature set, and configuration. The Android RCS client provided by Google will be based on the universal profile, enabling consumers to access RCS services on their devices. Features such as group chat, high-res photo sharing, read receipts, and more, will now become part of the operator messaging experience, enhancing the experience of over 4 billion SMS users worldwide1. GSMA RCS advanced calling features will also be supported in the future by Google.

Global Operators, Google and the GSMA Align Behind Adoption of Rich Communications Services

Operators align on universal RCS profile; Google to provide RCS messaging client in Android Barcelona: Global operators, including América Móvil, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Globe Telecom, KPN, Millicom, MTN, Orange, PLAY, Smart Communications, Sprint, Telenor Group...

www.gsma.com

RCS Business Messaging | Google for Developers

Bring branded, interactive mobile experiences to the default messaging app with Rich Communication Services (RCS).

jibe.google.com

"People are migrating" until all are done migrating (which won't be done by the time Apple implements RCS), problem exists, and won't be solved "entirely" (using your word) until then. What's your point?
" were starting to default to Google and Google has made so anyone can use RCS" - Google doesn't exist in China. Google isn't the end game for 100% RCS. China slowly rolled RCS implementation a few years ago among the big carriers.

Nobody expects every device to migrate. That is an unrealistic expectation. The problem is SMS/MMS are old protocols that need to be replaced and RCS is there to replace it while keeping SMS/MMS as fallback as they are not data intensive. Its the same reason why 2G and 3G cell networks still exist even though most modern phones use 4G and 5G is the default and fall back to 2G/3G when 4G and 5G is not available.

Don't see the relevancy in your iMessage falling back to SMS.

It is very relevant because Apple uses it as fallback for when iMessage fails. Its not going away, it will stay as fallback.

 

[darknight201]

Well there's your problem. You didn't think about how someone would remove or leave from a group with MMS users because simply there is no technical capability to do so with MMS users. There's the flaw. That's why Apple didn't do what you suggested. Plain and simple. This is why UX designers design the story and developers don't touch their work.

Carry on.

Sure. Just because it's hard to get to the 100% solution, just throw the 90% solution in the trash, right?
Also, nice touch removing the quotes that discussed how Apple already did some of the things that you claim are technically impossible... Bonus points for expert trolling! 👏 It's the little things that really sell it.

 

[fathobbit]

Yes, I'd rather be a furry than an android user.

That’s pretty morally bankrupt. And gross.

 

[mickobizzle]

.

 

[scorpio vega]

This is a weird complaint. You think a platform being better for its users is a sign that it’s dying? There was lot stacked against Windows Phone that had nothing to do with messaging interoperability.

Not entirely the same thing but Microsoft tried bridging the app gap by adding an android emulator to windows phone that definitely degraded performance.

Windows 10/11 is terrible as is edge compared to windows 8/8.1 because Microsoft is trying so hard to bring android interoperability and performance is obvious degraded.

It just reminds me of that. Obviously apple
Is nowhere near that level of desperation

 

[scorpio vega]

That’s pretty morally bankrupt. And gross.

Not a furry but nothing morally bankrupt about that ppls interest or gross.

 

[scorpio vega]

Perhaps Apple could change their business model to one where they actually design compelling devices with unique features that people actually want instead of just relying on vendor lock-in to keep their customers.

Most iPhone users use iPhones because they view android as inferior (rightfully so). Most of my friends see galaxy or pixels and still view them as inferior.

Snapchat for example is inferior on android than iOS.

 

[mickobizzle]

.

 

[scorpio vega]

Finally! Thank you EU for pushing Apple to be less monopolistic. This is an example of how monopolistic practices hurt consumers.

I and millions of iPhone users aren’t hurt. This is only for android users who chose to use the device they brought.

There are tons of messaging apps that can be used to communicate without needing to affect messaging on apple.

 

[scorpio vega]

"Dear World,

We have adopted the RCS protocol that Google has been bitching about for over a year. It is a half assed and by now antiquated replacement for SMS/MMS that failed to get any traction in 2009 and has been looking to avoid the dustbin.

We developed our own messaging service, like every other ****ing tech company. Microsoft has Teams, Facebook has not one but two messaging apps in WhatsApp/Messenger, Apple has iMessage, and then there are considerable other options Google could have either purchased or adopted.

Instead, they chose the MCX of the messaging world.

We are adopting it because it is by now already a legacy platform and we feel the EU in all their uneducated democratic mob wisdom will somehow force us to adopt it, too, after they're done with their autocratic demands on USB-C.

Enjoy RCS, our Android friends. We have moved on over a decade ago at this point and you can join the future by using WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessage on an Apple Device, or any of the thousands of other far superior messaging clients that Google can't seem to want to develop and compete against so they're using the blunt cudgel of the lazy mooch known as government, that has to date not produced a single life changing thing other than a gun or a bomb....

Sincerely,

Tim Apple and Team."

this so much.

 

[DakotaGuy]

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.

RCS works over Wi-Fi as well. Even if it has less features than iMessage it’ll be a HUGE improvement when a person with an iPhone texts to an Android phone. I am sure there will be a way to know what sort of message you‘re sending. This is a good thing for everyone. We don’t use floppy discs anymore so why are we still using SMS?

 

[ki77erb]

I and millions of iPhone users aren’t hurt. This is only for android users who chose to use the device they brought.

There are tons of messaging apps that can be used to communicate without needing to affect messaging on apple.

Hurt is probably the wrong word. Inconvenienced would be a better word. Messaging between Android and iPhones is currently insecure and featureless. If 100% of the people you message are iPhone users, then you never experienced this and nothing will change for you with the adoption of RCS (yay for you!). If any person you message is an Android user, you're going to get tons of benefits that have already been outlined numerous times in these articles and comments (yay for you!).

 

[DakotaGuy]

I and millions of iPhone users aren’t hurt. This is only for android users who chose to use the device they brought.

There are tons of messaging apps that can be used to communicate without needing to affect messaging on apple.

Apple already supports SMS/MMS and RCS is simply the modern feature rich next generation standard. Including it does absolutely nothing to iMessage to iMessage communication. All it does is provides a better experience when an iPhone texts an Android phone or vice versa. Are you a large shareholder that feels this move might hurt Apple profitability? If so I could see your concern, however I don’t think it’ll affect that much at all. It’s just simply moving to a new improved standard which is commonplace in technology. SMS started development in 1982 and was introduced in 1992. It‘s time to move beyond it and at least in the United States people just like using the regular text message app to communicate with each other. This is not only for Android users. This is for everyone to have a better messaging experience.

 

[DakotaGuy]

It is currently because no one is utilizing UP. The only RCS currently being used is Google's. That's the point here. Apple is going to implement UP, which is RCS, but not Google's RCS. So they're doing what everyone is whining about them doing, but it's going to be basically useless because no one is implementing UP currently.

It won’t be worthless because Google‘s implementation will still communicate with the UP. You will still get added benefits like typing indicators, larger multimedia files and better group messaging. Now unless things change with the UP it’ll be unencrypted between an iPhone and an Android phone and some minor features will be lacking, but it’ll still provide a much better experience than SMS. Apple might get encryption added to the UP so who knows how this all plays out in the end.

 

[mrochester]

If by vanishingly small, you mean 325 million people in the US, then you're right on the mark... Use of third party messaging app (signal, WhatsApp, telegram, etc) is basically non-existent here. I use WhatsApp between my wife and I (android to iPhone). But literally no one else I know uses it. You can't just get the entire ecosystem to move rapidly enough to fix the problem. You just have the benefit of having organically evolved into a better situation. That doesn't mean you're entitled to stand on your soap box and dictate we're all stupid and lazy because we have a difficult situation to work through.

And... In our current situation, RCS will absolutely make the situation significantly better.

I dont think all 325 million people in the US have struggled to find a cross-platform messaging service.

whatsapp appears to have 91million US users, so there’s a good chunk who have already figured it out, and that’s just one of many cross-platform chat services available.

This is possibly one of those situations where the news of ‘green bubble shaming’ makes people think it’s a bigger issue than it really is, and therefore overestimates the effect RCS will have.

 

[ki77erb]

"Dear World,

We have adopted the RCS protocol that Google has been bitching about for over a year. It is a half assed and by now antiquated replacement for SMS/MMS that failed to get any traction in 2009 and has been looking to avoid the dustbin.

We developed our own messaging service, like every other ****ing tech company. Microsoft has Teams, Facebook has not one but two messaging apps in WhatsApp/Messenger, Apple has iMessage, and then there are considerable other options Google could have either purchased or adopted.

Instead, they chose the MCX of the messaging world.

We are adopting it because it is by now already a legacy platform and we feel the EU in all their uneducated democratic mob wisdom will somehow force us to adopt it, too, after they're done with their autocratic demands on USB-C.

Enjoy RCS, our Android friends. We have moved on over a decade ago at this point and you can join the future by using WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessage on an Apple Device, or any of the thousands of other far superior messaging clients that Google can't seem to want to develop and compete against so they're using the blunt cudgel of the lazy mooch known as government, that has to date not produced a single life changing thing other than a gun or a bomb....

Sincerely,

Tim Apple and Team."

You put way too much effort into that when you could of just said "Apple good. Google bad."

This category 5 meltdown over the announcement is really just sad and pathetic and to be honest makes you look like a whiny child. All that just for some attention? Weird.

 

[agathezol]

RCS, or Rich Communications Services, is an upgrade to SMS/MMS that supports modern messaging features like typing indicators with read receipts (which can be turned off) and high-resolution photos and videos. This works by uploading to the cloud, and then the recipient gets a randomized URL that simply loads the image/video.

Admittedly I'm not entirely sure how distributing photos and videos works in iMessage, but it does not sound appealing to have my media uploaded to "the cloud" (whose cloud, exactly?) and accessing it with a "randomized URL" that "simply loads" the content. Hopefully there will be a way to disable RCS in Settings.

 

[jvolkman]

Admittedly I'm not entirely sure how distributing photos and videos works in iMessage, but it does not sound appealing to have my media uploaded to "the cloud" (whose cloud, exactly?) and accessing it with a "randomized URL" that "simply loads" the content. Hopefully there will be a way to disable RCS in Settings.

This is how MMS already works.

 

[agathezol]

This is how MMS already works.

Fair point. But just what we need - yet another place all that content is going to. Also thinking about one more avenue for vulns - as if iMessage didn't present enough on its own! I have no use for RCS - I don't care if my Android-using friends and I can't use text messaging to exchange high quality media. I understand plenty of people DO care - I just hope for the option to disable it.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

RCS works over Wi-Fi as well. Even if it has less features than iMessage it’ll be a HUGE improvement when a person with an iPhone texts to an Android phone. I am sure there will be a way to know what sort of message you‘re sending. This is a good thing for everyone. We don’t use floppy discs anymore so why are we still using SMS?

SMS is great in emergency situations where you have no or very low signal strength. That is why messaging services that use it as fall back are so good and way ahead of the tech firm apps. Getting a message to 999/112 services would work in most cases where you can't make a call.

Yup I'm all in favour of carrier grade services that are standards based. iMessage falls back automatically to SMS, and RCS does too. Bring it on. One app and message many.

 

[TimFL1]

RCS would, however, enable iMessage users to communicate with WhatsApp users with a fairly standard set of features

No it wont. There is no news about WhatsApp adding support for RCS.

 

[RickDEGH]

One more app to remove then - WhatsApp.

 

[darknight201]

No it wont. There is no news about WhatsApp adding support for RCS.

Sorry that comment was meant to mean that RCS enables the possibility to intercommunicate

 

[cyb3rdud3]

No it wont. There is no news about WhatsApp adding support for RCS.

True, but if they are smart, they would. Although I still question the business model for WhatsApp. I'm probably old-fashioned, but when it is free, it means the real product is the user.

 

[DakotaGuy]

SMS is great in emergency situations where you have no or very low signal strength. That is why messaging services that use it as fall back are so good and way ahead of the tech firm apps. Getting a message to 999/112 services would work in most cases where you can't make a call.

Yup I'm all in favour of carrier grade services that are standards based. iMessage falls back automatically to SMS, and RCS does too. Bring it on. One app and message many.

Yes and SMS will always be the fallback of last resort when it comes to text messaging because you can still get a simple message through when data transfer is an issue with low signal strength. Adding RCS just means when data transfer is at a decent level you'll get texting between platforms that's much more feature rich and closer to an iMessage experience. This is good news for everyone that uses text messaging with a legacy fallback app like iMessage or Google Messages.

I understand that third party apps like WhatsApp are a big deal in other places and people can keep using them. In the US, however, the vast majority of people just use stock phone number based texting and adding RCS will drastically improve that experience.