How can they adopt iMessage? iMessage is proprietary software made by Apple.
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Google Again Criticizes Apple for Not Adopting RCS for Messages App: 'Their Texting is Stuck in the 1990s'
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Kind of.
Currently the Messages app tries to send via iMessage. If that fails it tries SMS (if you've enabled that in Settings). If that fails, message not sent.
The change here is to replace SMS with RCS, but if RCS fails it has to fall back to SMS, so SMS has to remain until it's killed off by the telecoms industry, and then RCS becomes the lowest level standard. RCS is basically an extra layer of compatibility that would allow messages from Android to be read and created on iPhones until SMS is killed off. Google is thus pushing for RCS to replace SMS, not iMessage.
Messages would try to send via iMessage, then attempt via RCS, but what if the message you're trying to send in iMessage can't be replicated in RCS? What if Apple has made some super duper enhancement to iMessage that RCS can't handle? Do Apple have to wait until the RCS standard is updated to handle Apple's innovation? How would they approach the standards body secretly for their new innovation without others knowing about it?
There are reasons why we have standards (SMS, plain text email, for example), and reasons why companies should be entitled to innovate and build new technologies. iMessage is one such technology, and Google should ****.
Whoops! I erred... I read that as "invented". TY for bringing that to my attention and sorry to @Eminemdrdre00
Why on earth would Google walk away from a deal that makes them billions a year?
This isn't to replace iMessage, it's to replace SMS as the fallback when texting users that don't have iMessage.
Doubt that. The difference is 1.5 billion users and a secure network. RSC is not even end to end encrypted so, there is no reason to invest money into supporting it. Even Google does not fully support it on their devices. What Google is really saying in the post is the want Apple to come in and fix what is broken, because they don’t know how. This is a Google initiative which means it’s designed to support their data focused business model and Apple is keenly aware. They just won’t call them out. They don’t have to, because they know they will lose interest and stop supporting it 2 years from now. If Apple got involved , they would be left holding the bag and blamed for all problems. Tim said Nope!
SMS is a method of sending text through the cellular network. Yes Apple uses that as the fallback in the messages app when the receiver doesn't have iMessage. If you don't believe me to go Settings -> Messages on your iPhone and you'll see an option to "Send as SMS".
I use iMessages, Telegram, WhatsApp. I'm fine with any of them, since they're just tools, and all of them work fairly well. And I don't really begrudge Google or Apple trying to establish or maintain a perceived advantage. That's business, and there are lots of options for any user. Why does one glove have to fit all hands?
But I think perhaps Apple has been holding out from adopting RCS for another reason. There was a recent article about Apple's future roll-out of its AR/XR hardware and rOS, hinting at a new Messages experience. I think their planned changes to Messages is why they are holding off. I have no idea what this will mean, or how it impacts messaging with Android devices or not. But maybe they just don't want to move laterally or backwards if they have something really new coming out.
Just a theory.
But I think perhaps Apple has been holding out from adopting RCS for another reason. There was a recent article about Apple's future roll-out of its AR/XR hardware and rOS, hinting at a new Messages experience. I think their planned changes to Messages is why they are holding off. I have no idea what this will mean, or how it impacts messaging with Android devices or not. But maybe they just don't want to move laterally or backwards if they have something really new coming out.
Just a theory.
As an Apple user myself, I'm not going to get Android any time soon. I can't see any reason why I would root for Apple on this one. There are zero disadvantages for us as Apple users for Apple to adopt RCS. iMessage would still live on as a proprietary stack at the top of it all, RCS as the fallback option and SMS as a last resort. This will provide us with much better cross-platform compatibility when messaging people that are not using iOS. Why wouldn't we want this?
Thank you, I don't understand the people who are against this. Do people prefer to not be able to send full resolution photos and videos to their friends and family who have an Android phone? Do they even realize that when you send a video to an Android user all they receive is a tiny pixelated video that is unwatchable as that is all the SMS standard supports?
RCS is so great that Google disabled it in India because of the tons of business spam. Go google!
I am honestly so sick of Apple. Their apps suck, their innovation is completely stifled, their hardware designs are tired and they now lag behind competitors in so many areas. I rue the day I trapped myself in their ecosystem.
Sorry, but incorrect. iMessage will evolve and eventually support a version of RCS in the future, but right now, RCS is a mess of different implementations, not *one* clean, well-designed protocol. That's the issue. I suspect that it's not as well-engineered as Google wants you to think. From what we've heard, it's a mess.
Poor my bank account. Poor stagnation of the industry. Poor inability to connect across platforms.
Hopefully Apple’s reign is coming to an end. We need a company with energy to spur innovation on. Apple’s sole focus is retaining its profit margins.
If I wanted to share my contacts, browsing and chat history then I would use WhatsUp.
As I’m not sharing anything, and I don’t want to receive spam messages for “sevices”; as such I am totally happy using iMessage. To Android users, I just send normal SMS- with iMessage. Not sure what problem Google has, do they want my data so badly?
As I’m not sharing anything, and I don’t want to receive spam messages for “sevices”; as such I am totally happy using iMessage. To Android users, I just send normal SMS- with iMessage. Not sure what problem Google has, do they want my data so badly?
This is basically pointless. In the United Staes iOS has a majority share and iMessage is on by default. SMS automatically works and it’s free, so no one cares and you don’t have to think about it.
In Europe majority are on WhatsApp…
In Europe majority are on WhatsApp…
Most of these 1.5B users are not in US and in those countries people do not use iMessage (it would not get them very far over there for most users in those countries use Android).
As I understand it, if Apple implemented RCS Universal Profile as the fallback to iMessage it would guarantee interconnection with other carriers that support RCS.
In Norway, SMS and MMS have been essentially free for almost a decade.