Google Again Criticizes Apple for Not Adopting RCS for Messages App: 'Their Texting is Stuck in the 1990s'

[jbpiv3]

I suspect that Apple would embrace RCS if it replaced SMS world wide (and did not go through a non-Apple relay server) even if it weren’t E2EE. But not if they have to have both SMS and RCS. And Mr Cook is correct, Apple users aren’t asking for RCS.

Speak for yourself. I’d love for RCS to be adapted on my iPhone. I’m tired of receiving garbage images and videos via SMS From non-iPhones. Or even worse… a group chat that is SMS due to a non-iPhone user… and having to ask for that person to send the picture/video outside the group chat.

There’s no reason not to get rid of an aging technology and evolve.

The image and video quality is the biggest reason I love my iPhone and upgrade. I hate the fact I have to jump through hoops to share my images via messaging (don’t tell me to use WhatsApp or email it… those are hoops.)

 

[cSalmon]

🤷

I just use email. Everyone has it on their phone. The only texts I get are from those payment reminders.

Edit : to the few Disagree votes I got. You don’t use email? 😂

absolutely agree! I hate texts - it's the Mosquitos of communication - we all have smart phones now, death to those annoying dings (answer me answer me answer me answer me now!!!!)

 

[jbpiv3]

absolutely agree! I hate texts - it's the Mosquitos of communication - we all have smart phones now, death to those annoying dings (answer me answer me answer me answer me now!!!!)

I’m trying to understand if this is sarcasm… or I’m completely missing how people communicate. I avoid calling people at all costs… but then again I worked 7 years in a call center.

 

[Gudi]

Now that Silicon Valley tech giants are cutting down on their loss leading pet projects, isn't it time for Google to fire half of their Android staff? /s

 

[nelloismello]

🤷

I just use email. Everyone has it on their phone. The only texts I get are from those payment reminders.

Edit : to the few Disagree votes I got. You don’t use email? 😂

Email is so last century. We use RCSmail now /s

 

[Gudi]

Email is so last century. We use RCSmail now /s

Wasn't Email going to be replaced by Google Wave or something?

 

[Azathoth123]

There’s no reason not to get rid of an aging technology and evolve.

I agree, but RCS is a hairy 70-year old guy in a speedo that Google just slapped on him, lol! I really think that Google is trolling Apple over an ancient protocol (RCS). ‘No, triceratops aren’t ancient, we just dug one up!’

Bad humor aside, what’s an ‘evolved’ messaging client, to use the term for your interesting idea? Well, to me (protocols, not third party apps)

- Sent to a user identifier, like email, not a phone number because phone numbers require a carrier contract, it natively works over WiFi. iMessage yes, SMS and RCS no. No foul really, both SMS and RCS are carrier protocols doing exactly what they were designed to do.
- It’s universal, and works worldwide if you have a phone connection. iMessage yes, if you have an iPhone, SMS yes, RCS no.
- It‘s free from carrier charges, if it isn’t, it will never be world wide with any significance. iMessage yes, SMS no (in principle), RCS remains to be seen maybe?
- It’s secure. SMS no, RCS no (Google’s proprietary fork might be but is not provably so right now I think, and goes through Google servers which Apple would never allow iMessages to pass).
- Doesn’t pass through third party servers, iMessage no 3rd party, SMS no 3rd party, carrier RCS no third party, Google RCS yes, third party (for encryption and features).
- The protocol must be supported over a much longer period than the average Google venture, IOW, longer than 24-36 months.

As others have noted, messaging should work like email - I can email almost anyone, anywhere, and it doesn’t matter what OS or hardware either of us are using. It doesn’t matter if I’m emailing over cellular or WiFi. All I need is an email address.

iMessage seems to check all those boxes, as it was designed to do, but you have to have an iPhone.

If RCS or another protocol can do all of the above equally to iMessage, I don’t see why Apple wouldn’t embrace it as a fall back vs SMS.

And to out the elephant in the room, Google can do all of this if it wants to.

FYI, RCS defaults to SMS if the carrier doesn’t support the specific RCS protocol, which is most of the world.

 

[KurtMann]

I’m curious, if you send a video or audio via MMS, does that count against your 2gb?

I don’t think so, but I’m not sure. It’s specified separately: it’s free calls, texts and mms, and then the data plan. And it’s free data in social media apps too I think, but again, I’m not sure how that actually works. I’m sure there is some atrocious data mining behind the later.

 

[bobcomer]

I’m trying to understand if this is sarcasm… or I’m completely missing how people communicate. I avoid calling people at all costs… but then again I worked 7 years in a call center.

I too MUCH prefer texting over phone calls. Short and gets the point accross fast.

 

[Bregalad]

And why would they?

SMS brings money to carriers.

Are you kidding me? What decade are you living in? I haven't paid for texting since the flip phone days.

Every plan in Canada, even the cheapest pre-paid ones, include unlimited international SMS. The carriers make money selling minutes and data.

My kids don't have data because it would double the monthly cost. At home/school/library where they have free WiFi they can use Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, etc. but when they're in the car, on the bus or at the park the only thing that works is voice calls or SMS.

 

[SoldOnApple]

Android should just adopt the iMessage protocol. Offer Apple six billion dollars a year for the honour.

 

[geartau]

A universal communication protocol everyone can use (like a telephone, walkie talkie, sat com, etc.) is a terrible idea, eh?

Let me guess, your family bought BetaMax and HD-DVD formats

everyone? 5 year old who doesn't have his own cell phone?

nope.

 

[Kar98]

Most iPhone users use other apps too.

Yeah, because I've got people in Europe without iPhones but everyone there uses Whatsapp, and some people in the US who are still on Skype/Windows Messenger.

iMessage hasn't changed since it came out, and it's kind of meh compared to everything else--- even RCS (which can have all the add ons like iMessage if Apple wanted to sell suckers stickers).

In comparison to Whatsapp and RCS, what exactly do you think I'm missing?

 

[palmerc]

The problem is this... there is a limited upside for RCS on iPhone.

If this was a problem for Apple, they'd adopt it, but Google is making a bunch of noise, because Android has never managed to get messaging right and it needs Apple to embrace RCS. iOS users have iMessage and it literally does everything they want it to do.

 

[noannualfee]

I’m sure a good majority of the people in here clowning Google still use Google as their search method and use Google Maps over Apple Maps. Only a small minority of that group go out of their way to use something else.

 

[bergmef]

I don't care too much either way. What I really want to know is, group texts worked with both android and apple users in iMessage in ios15, ios14,ios13 .... etc. I updated to ios16 and nothing goes through. The first time, I found a signed copy of 15.7 and everything worked again. To connect at work, we were forced to move to ios16 ... now nothing goes through again. Everyone else in our group is on the same hardware and software the whole time. TO me, it looks like ios16 broke it. No one at apple can fix it and they won't give me a signed copy of 15.7 (even though I would be without the phone 9 hours a day at work).

Won't even bring up hot spot on the phone (connecting my iPad) doesn't work since ios16.

And before someone nicely suggests it, I hit the apple feedback site every day I get on my mac.

 

[bergmef]

The problem is this... there is a limited upside for RCS on iPhone.

If this was a problem for Apple, they'd adopt it, but Google is making a bunch of noise, because Android has never managed to get messaging right and it needs Apple to embrace RCS. iOS users have iMessage and it literally does everything they want it to do.

except continue to connect to non-phones. Why did it break in ios16? it was working fine before that and nothing else changed. I would so replace my 13max if I could find one that still had ios15 on it

 

[Burger Thing]

Inside the US, WhatsApp is a joke. Nobody uses it, unless you have friends who live in foreign countries. It's not the solution, and it's a crappy one at that.

In terms of features and usability, it wipes the floor with iMessage. That's the sad truth. And I wish it was the other way around.

 

[lartola]

I suspect that Apple would embrace RCS if it replaced SMS world wide (and did not go through a non-Apple relay server) even if it weren’t E2EE. But not if they have to have both SMS and RCS. And Mr Cook is correct, Apple users aren’t asking for RCS.

That’s probably true for Apple users outside the US because they are ok with using 3rd party apps to message with Android users. US Apple users, however, are more stubborn and narrowminded and refuse to use any 3rd party messaging apps, meaning they can only do basic texting and low quality images and videos (SMS and MMS) with Android users via the messages app. Although it’s mostly their decision not to use anything other than the messages app, I still doubt they like it at all to have those limitations.

 

[Wizec]

Apple was probably going to release support for RCS but since Google called them out:

Then the EU comes along and makes a law requiring mobile phone companies to support RCS:

 

[_Forever]

It's definitely a US thing, probably 9/10 of my friends have iPhones and use iMessage. I have a Dutch buddy, he had to find his iMessage app buried deep in a folder. They just don't use it.

 

[PaulG1000]

OK, here's a long one. I still can't believe I registered to a Mac forum or even commented. I'm not a apple guy and I almost never post anywhere. I'll probably get bludgeoned here.

Looks like all replies here are iphone users, makes sense given the forum. I'm a total android guy, so you can have at it beating me up.

I'll preface this by saying I don't really have a clean answer to this.

The issues I see is that almost all the people in this forum are fairly savvy users, which is IMHO, a minority of iphone users. I mean that makes sense too, as ease of use, it just works, etc is primarily apples approach.

But all of these arguments about using alternatives are completely foreign to many iphone users. Of the dozen or so friends and relatives I have in the US, most had no idea that their videos sent to me were contorted and miniaturized. And trying to even describe why was difficult. Iphone users use iMessage almost always, at least in the US. It works why use anything else? And I agree with that, totally.

I spend plenty of time explaining how to use WhatsApp or signal. Doesn't matter they fall back. But, I have had some success at least to get them to share photos and videos on another platform.

Solution! Well, I would like to see them adopt RCS, sure. Even that message is muddled. Why should we adopt RCS, IMessage works perfectly. You're not REPLACING iMessage protocol, just adopt conversion to RCS when present, and fall back to SMS. I'll even accept that it isn't really a standard yet. That's not the issue.
But I understand Apples reluctance.

It's not good business. Personally I thought Cooks buy mom an iphone answer totally tone deaf, it wasn't even funny. Let's face it, many opt for Android for pricing concerns. Hey Cook, why don't You buy mom that iphone.
It kind of hurts me to see families trading pictures with mixed phones and seeing bad results, and they don't know why or even that it's happening., and they don't know what WhatsApp is. iPhone users think things are going fine, Android users think the iphone User takes crappy videos, and they just accept it unknowingly.

You will not find these users reading this information in this forum.

And all of this fuss ignores the people that are most hurt by it.

I just don't see how adding RCS conversion to iphone will keep people from buying iphones. Keep the different color bubbles, just do your best to send the original content as unadulterated as possible.

Yeah, development costs, Apple can afford it, but no hurt to business.

As usual, the users with no knowledge of the issue, and possibly having a hard time making ends meet are the ones that get hurt and they have no representation. Cook laughs it off, and Grandma had this pathetic video of her granddaughter. It's not about business, Android vs iphone, it's about doing something good for all users..

okay, if you made it this far... thanks for reading. Not sure this post has done anything for anybody but me. Just had to voice it...

 

[lartola]

The problem is this... there is a limited upside for RCS on iPhone.

If this was a problem for Apple, they'd adopt it, but Google is making a bunch of noise, because Android has never managed to get messaging right and it needs Apple to embrace RCS. iOS users have iMessage and it literally does everything they want it to do.

Except send and receive hq images and videos, direct replies, reactions, etc, with non-Apple users. Apple’s messages app doesn’t do that. Whatsapp, Telegram, Signal, etc, do offer those features inter-platform. Apple’s Messages limits messaging with non-Apple users to decades old SMS/MMS. Even though it’s your decision not to use anything but Apple’s messages app for messaging, are you seriously ok with those limitations when you message non-Apple users?

 

[lartola]

OK, here's a long one. I still can't believe I registered to a Mac forum or even commented. I'm not a apple guy and I almost never post anywhere. I'll probably get bludgeoned here.

Looks like all replies here are iphone users, makes sense given the forum. I'm a total android guy, so you can have at it besting me up.

I'll preface this by saying I don't really have a clean answer to this.

The issues I see is that almost all the people in this forum are fairly savvy users, which is IMHO, a minority of iphone users. I mean that makes sense too, as ease of use, it just works, etc is previously apples approach.

But all of these arguments about using alternatives are completely foreign to many iphone users. Of the dozen or so friends and relatives I have in the US, most had no idea that their videos sent to me were contorted and miniaturized. And trying to even describe why was difficult. Iphone users use iMessage almost always, at least in the US. Why works I use anything else? And I agree with that, totally.

I spend plenty of time explaining how to use WhatsApp or signal. Doesn't matter they fall back. But, I have had some success at least to get them to share photos and videos on another platform.

Solution! Well, I would like to see them adopt RCS, sure. Even that message is muddled. Why should we adopt RCS, IMessage works perfectly. You're not REPLACING iMessage protocol, just adopt conversion to RCS when present, and fall back to SMS. I'll even accept that it isn't really a standard yet. That's not the issue.
But I understand Apples reluctance.

It's not good business. Personally I thought Cooks buy mom an iphone answer totally tone deaf, it wasn't even funny. Let's face it, many opt for Android for pricing concerns. Hey Cook, why don't You buy mom that iphone.
It kind of hurts me to see families trading pictures with mixed phones and seeing bad results, and they don't know why or even that it's happening., and they don't know what WhatsApp is. iPhone users think things are going fine, Android users think the iphone User takes crappy videos, and they just accept it unknowingly.

You will not find these users reading this information in this forum.

And all of this fuss ignores the people that are most hurt by it.

I just don't see how adding RCS conversion to iphone will keep people from buying iphones. Keep the different color bubbles, just do your best to send the original content as unadulterated as possible.

Yeah, development costs, Apple can afford it, but no hurt to business.

As usual, the users with no knowledge of the issue, and possibly having a hard time making ends meet are the ones that get hurt and they have no representation. Cook laughs it off, and Grandma had this pathetic video of her granddaughter. It's not about business, Android vs iphone, it's about doing something good for all users..

okay, if you made it this far... thanks for reading. Not sure this post has done anything for anybody but me. Just had to voice it...

The problem is that this is only an issue for american iphone users, who blatantly refuse to use any 3rd party messaging apps at all. That makes it easy for Apple to argue that it’s those users’ decision to stick to Apple Messages only and accept the limitation to only using SMS/MMS to text Android users. And, obviously, they won’t budge and enable RCS.

 

[SmugMaverick]

I don't trust Google & Meta. It's that simple. Both are hungry for data and invading privacy.

Pretty clear Apple is doing the same and actually lying about it, hence the lawsuits.