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Google Executive Wants to Help Apple Make Texts Between Android and iPhone Users More Secure

Do any carriers outside the US support RCS?
I’m French-British with friends across Europe and North Africa and working with people abroad in SS Africa, Russia, most of Europe… 100.00% of them use Whatsapp. My only use of the Messages app is for chats with the few of my American colleagues who don’t use Whatsapp (very few haven’t got it installed) and for insecure 2FA one-time passwords and delivery notifications. And I use WeChat with people in China. That said, if RCS makes 2FA messages more secure, then I’m all for it.
But like others rightly said, I’m not sure why Google isn’t (i) sorting out Android’s very spotty RCS implementation first and (ii) trying to convince Facebook, which owns a bigger piece of the messaging pie, rather than Facebook.
 
Or Apple could just develop a messaging app for Windows and Android. We know they have the capability. The fact that we are still in a Windows V MacOS & iOS V Android world in 2021 is nuts. People should be able to move between OS's and devices fluently. Each device/OS has their strengths and people should be able to switch between them to leverage those strengths when needed.

Obviously if they opened up Messages to Windows and Android they would lose a small number of people buying an iPhone or Mac, but honestly, if more people were able to use iMessage it would function as an entry into the Apple ecosystem and likely boost sales long term.
 
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IsaacM said:
In Europe, WhatsApp is standard. It's not ideal (Facebook owned), but at least its available on every phone.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately true. I keep trying to get friends there into something not FB-controlled, like Signal, but they won't switch. If/when FB forces users to agree to the new Terms and Conditions, I'll probably stop using WhatsApp and accept that it will be harder to connect with them.
 
IsaacM said:
Americans seem to use "blue chat bubbles" as some sort of class differentiator and a bragging right, so Apple will hold onto that selling point for the foreseeable future.

In Europe, WhatsApp is standard. It's not ideal (Facebook owned), but at least its available on every phone.
Click to expand...
Yup spot on. WhatsApp is standard as it's great across platforms and internationally. It's far more common for a European to be sending/receiving messages from outside home country
 
Most people I know use Android and they all have RCS. It would be nice to have a secure way to talk with them outside of using an app like FB Messenger (I try and stay away from FB as much as possible).
 
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Yeah SMS is soo outdated. I only use it to communicate with my drug dealer, so having it more secure would be ideal! 😄
 
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jamezr said:
Sure whatever...most widely used messaging app in Europe or worldwide is WhatsApp....
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Yes, more users use WhatsApp than any other app, that's not debated here. But the claim that "every phone in Europe has WhatsApp installed" is obviously not accurate, but just a silly assumption. First of all, Europe is not a homogeneous group of people, where all countries have the same preferences of which chat app to use. In Sweden for example, Messenger is most likely the most common one.

And about those statistics: Let's say you have 100 users, and 45 % of them use WhatsApp, and 25 % use Messenger, and the other 30 % are using a range of other apps. That simply means that more people are not using WhatsApp than people that are, right?
 
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I wish all of these services were more open. In the old days of iChat on the Mac, you could configure it to check your AIM and other accounts all in one place.

I know this probably won't happen because everyone wants you silo'ed into THEIR app, but I'd love nothing more than to have Messages plug into Signal and Whatsapp and Messenger -- and just fold all those into one app like SMS and iMessage are now.
 
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SpringKid said:
Yes, more users use WhatsApp than any other app, that's not debated here. But the claim that "every phone in Europe has WhatsApp installed" is obviously not accurate, but just a silly assumption. First of all, Europe is not a homogeneous group of people, where all countries have the same preferences of which chat app to use. In Sweden for example, Messenger is most likely the most common one.

And about those statistics: Let's say you have 100 users, and 45 % of them use WhatsApp, and 25 % use Messenger, and the other 30 % are using a range of other apps. That simply means that more people are not using WhatsApp than people that are, right?
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well you can try to spin the data to support whatever you need it to in your mind.
But the data don't lie.
More people worldwide use WhatsApp than any other messaging app.
Then I post proof to back up my position.......

1633704820804.png
 
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voice_of said:
Why would anyone prefer RCS which requires mobile carrier participation over a messenger of their choice that works everywhere? RCS is a blatant attempt by the carriers to stay relevant as SMS monetisation ran dry. They want a replacement, something to sell to their customers on top of providing internet connection.

There's no point for Apple to ever support that. There's no point for anyone to use that. Yes, it is an upgrade from SMS, but it is a downgrade from internet messengers.
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This. RCS is carrier-controlled, phone-number tied, and based on 2008 technology.

I highly recommend reading this piece on Ars Technica, especially the section titled "RCS is bad, and anyone who likes it should feel bad", to give you an idea of why Google is the last company anyone should take advice from when it comes to messaging.

A decade and a half of instability: The history of Google messaging apps

Note that the author is Ars' Android OS and Google specialist, Ron Amadeo.
 
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jamezr said:
well you can try to spin the data to support whatever you need it to in your mind.
But the data don't lie.
More people worldwide use WhatsApp than any other messaging app.
Then I post proof to back up my position.......

View attachment 1860101
Click to expand...
Oh man, come on, it's not spin. 😂 Ok, let's do some very simple math from what you circled:

WhatsApp 1.6 billion
Facebook Messenger 1.3 billion
WeChat 1.1 billion

That is 4 billion in total, with 2.4 billion not using WhatsApp.
 
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SpringKid said:
Oh man, come on, it's not spin. 😂 Ok, let's do some very simple math from what you circled:

WhatsApp 1.6 billion
Facebook Messenger 1.3 billion
WeChat 1.1 billion

That is 4 billion in total, with 2.4 billion not using WhatsApp.
Click to expand...
LOL..I will even do you one better...using YOUR logic!

There are what 7 billion people in the world...so ONLY 1.6 billion are using WhatsApp...so...by you logic it is not very popular because not everyone of the 7 billion are using it LOL. there are more people NOT using than using it :D


I will stick with my original stance backed up actual data...

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world.

If you disagree then show some actual data to back it up....


1633705581844.png
 
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jamezr said:
LOL..I will even do you one better...using YOUR logic!

There are what 7 billion people in the world...so ONLY 1.6 billion are using WhatsApp...so...by you logic it is not very popular because not everyone of the 7 billion are using it LOL. there are more people NOT using than using it :D
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That's not my logic, but sure. :)
 
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Octavius8 said:
Use WhatsApp. Only in USA people don’t like about 3 party messaging alternatives.
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Oh no, even in Europe f-book’s WhatsApp should be avoided. Yes, many of my friends still use it, but our family has shifted to discord and signal. And we live happily ever after.

So, 3rd party ok. But WhatsApp no thanks.
 
jamezr said:
So you have no data to back up anything you said...so sure nice chatting with you....

So in your mind...with YOUR logic...what is the most popular messaging app in the world?
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I'm using YOUR data. :D

I'm simply saying that WhatsApp is the single most popular chat app, but that doesn't mean that more people are using it than people using another app to chat. I don't get why you're even arguing against that, your numbers are showing exactly this.
 
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SpringKid said:
I'm using YOUR data. :D

I'm simply saying that WhatsApp is the single most popular chat app, but that doesn't mean that more people are using it than people using another app to chat. I don't get why you're even arguing against that, your numbers are showing exactly this.
Click to expand...
Prove it with actual data....
You just state your opinion as fact with nothing to back it up.
My data shows WhatsApp is being used by more people than any other messaging application in the world. If you disagree...then show me data to back up :)
 
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jamezr said:
Prove it with actual data....
You just state your opinion as fact with nothing to back it up.
My data shows WhatsApp is being used by more people than any other messaging application. If you disagree...then show me data to back up :)
Click to expand...
Are you just trolling now? 🤔 It's not my opinion.
 
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IsaacM said:
Americans seem to use "blue chat bubbles" as some sort of class differentiator and a bragging right, so Apple will hold onto that selling point for the foreseeable future.

In Europe, WhatsApp is standard. It's not ideal (Facebook owned), but at least its available on every phone.
Click to expand...

In Europe, WhatsApp is standard. It's not ideal (Facebook destroys privacy and erodes the very fabric of society), but at least its available on every phone.

Fixed to properly reflect the trade-off.
 
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