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

Fascinating on opinions here. In Asia it's Whatsapp in some countries, FB Messenger in others, and still some "Line" usage - Line used to be the most popular but it's dated now, and there's no longer good reasons to be on it.

And WeChat in China which is e2e2e encrypted, one end is you, the other end your friend, and the third end the chinese government 😂

That being said, there's certain links one cannot send with FB Messenger either, so FB messenger is basically the US-government controlled version of WeChat. Same idea, different country.

I like Telegram but it took me months to figure out the settings so it "just works" as a normal chat app should - I would constantly miss personal messages since it has a really weird and quirky way of delivering notifications that was incompatible with my usage patterns.

Signal is OK too but it always loses all messages every time you switch device which is a security feature (or rather inability to implement what Apple implemented for iMessage - e2e encryption + seamless device on and offboaarding).

I wish Apple would get over it and release iMessage on Android... although they really need to remove the apps feature again, it is a mess and undoubtedly source of many thousands zero day exploits still to come... it makes simple things like sharing photos into complicated things... just weird.

I guess it is time for the one message app to rule them all:

- Usability like Whatsapp
- Not owned by facebook or China
- "Just works" unlike Telegram
- Secure like Signal
- Running on decentralized infrastructure so it can't be turned off


And yes WhatsApp isn't the prettiest app, but usability is the best. Everyone can use it for anything they want to use it for. Farmers in Indonesia can figure it out, kids can figure it out, my mom could figure it out, it just works.
 
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MJaP said:
According to Statistica WhatApp is the most used messaging app in the world by a big margin. Only going on personal experience on myself and maybe 100+ friends I interact with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are the two ways we communicate. I have an iPhone and I don't see what all the "I stay with IOS because of Messenger" argument is all about, it's nothing special and is limited when it comes to communicating with my non-Apple friends. Apple doesn't like to play nice with the other children.

View attachment 1859706
Click to expand...

The original claim was "In Europe, WhatsApp is standard."

Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Portugal, Poland, Greece, Cyprus, and lots of the Eastern Europa has Facebook Messenger as the most used. In Ukraine and Serbia it's probably Viber.

But if you look at those statistics you'll find that iMessage don't show up at all. I'm not even sure they count it.

"iMessage, the messaging app from Apple, is often not included in the list of the most popular messaging apps. Usage data for iMessage is also not easy to come by. However, based on information shared by Apple itself, it is estimated that iMessage has about 1.3 billion active users worldwide, making it as popular as Facebook Messenger, second only to WhatsApp."
99firms.com

Most Popular Messaging Apps - 99firms

Check the statistics on the most popular messaging apps to get a better understanding of the overall trends in the messaging business.
99firms.com 99firms.com
 
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BootsWalking said:
Why else would Google pay Apple $11B/year to make it the default search engine if what I wrote wasn't true, if they could instead rely on users seeking Google out and changing the default search engine on their own? We both have made suppositions - the only difference is mine is supported by the fact Google is paying Apple $11B/year whereas yours is backed only by your challenge to my supposition.
Click to expand...
The overall point I'm making is that we can opine on this and even decide one opinion is better than another opinion, but without hard facts, they still are opinions.
 
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All I know is that when Apple/Android can't agree on a standard messaging platform, the consumers all lose. Right now, the ball is in Apple's court, and they are actively making people's messaging experience worse because they are greedy.
 
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dk001 said:
It surprises me that Apple is sticking to SMS. That is the one piece of the messaging platform Apple and it's supposed privacy stance leaves wide open.
Click to expand...
It's not surprising when you realize that everything Apple does is motivated by greed. Apple does not actually care about your privacy at all...
 
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...
The people in Europe can keep their WhatsApp. This American wants no part of that Facebook owned garbage.
 
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hans1972 said:
But if you look at those statistics you'll find that iMessage don't show up at all. I'm not even sure they count it.

"iMessage, the messaging app from Apple, is often not included in the list of the most popular messaging apps. Usage data for iMessage is also not easy to come by. However, based on information shared by Apple itself, it is estimated that iMessage has about 1.3 billion active users worldwide, making it as popular as Facebook Messenger, second only to WhatsApp."
Click to expand...

This just seems conveniently close to the overall number of active Apple devices, which in Jan 2021 apparently was overall 1.65bn devices, of which 1bn were iPhones. Remember iMessage basically actives itself when you set up an iPhone.

Apple probably counts you as an active user if you send a single message in a 12 month interval.
 
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Apple might as well since they are ****ting all over iMessage now. Notice how a lot of the time when you send media over iMessage now it does the iCloud link instead of sending the content. Pisses me off so much. Also when sending direct it seems the quality has been suffering lately. I expect perfection from iMessage. It’s one of the biggest reasons I stay with Apple and spent the ridiculous amounts of money I spend 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...
I don't know one person who has WhatsApp on their phone and I'm not even sure I've heard of it. Def feels like an alien thing in the states tho people do seem to like using Facebook Messenger for a lot of stuff.
 
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I7guy said:
The overall point I'm making is that we can opine on this and even decide one opinion is better than another opinion, but without hard facts, they still are opinions.
Click to expand...
So why do think Google pays Apple $11B per year to be the default search engine? Why does Apple accept this dirty money?
 
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...
Then I’m very thankful for Google here. Facebook needs to go.
 
This is a Google PR stunt for publicity of the protocol. Apple will not implement it. In fact they likely won’t even respond.
 
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hans1972 said:
The original claim was "In Europe, WhatsApp is standard."

Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Portugal, Poland, Greece, Cyprus, and lots of the Eastern Europa has Facebook Messenger as the most used. In Ukraine and Serbia it's probably Viber.

But if you look at those statistics you'll find that iMessage don't show up at all. I'm not even sure they count it.

"iMessage, the messaging app from Apple, is often not included in the list of the most popular messaging apps. Usage data for iMessage is also not easy to come by. However, based on information shared by Apple itself, it is estimated that iMessage has about 1.3 billion active users worldwide, making it as popular as Facebook Messenger, second only to WhatsApp."
99firms.com

Most Popular Messaging Apps - 99firms

Check the statistics on the most popular messaging apps to get a better understanding of the overall trends in the messaging business.
99firms.com 99firms.com
Click to expand...
I very much doubt there are 1.3 billion unique monthly iMessage users.
Most Apple users outside of the US don't even rely on iMessage as their main messaging app.
 
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dk001 said:
Color me confused. How is allowing iMessage to handle RCS unlocking the Apple ecosystem?
Click to expand...
It’s not. It’s only one thing on a long list of things where Apple does not want to play along nice with others. GPU drivers, CUDA, OpenGL, Vulkan, Metal, Apple Pay, in-app payments, NFC, implementation details of algorithms for clinical trials and so on and so forth. They want their own playground, locked up tight and closed to have absolute control. Sure, their business, they can do what they want. In the end, we’d have much better products if they’d play along here and there.
 
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I7guy said:
Google should provide the answer not random internet posters who are guessing at motives. Who said this money is dirty?
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Are you able to speculate why Google would pay Apple $11B per year to be the default search engine? What benefits does Google gain by paying $900M per month to Apple to be the default engine when Apple could have NOT accepted the money and allow its privacy conscious users to select during activation?

Google Search is probably the most privacy invasive part of Google, yet Apple is rather happy to accept $900M per month JUST by literally doing nothing more than being the default.
 
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KevinN206 said:
Are you able to speculate why Google would pay Apple $11B per year to be the default search engine? What benefits does Google gain by paying $900M per month to Apple to be the default engine when Apple could have NOT accepted the money and allow its privacy conscious users to select during activation?
Click to expand...
I already admitted I can't speculate. Can you factually say why google is paying Apple 11B per year? I'll bet you believe you can formulate a pretty good guess...but you don't really know.
KevinN206 said:
Google Search is probably the most privacy invasive part of Google, yet Apple is rather happy to accept $900M per month JUST by literally doing nothing more than being the default.
Click to expand...
Can you tell me how privacy is changed if Apple didn't accept the money or google didn't offer it?
 
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