Aren't iMessage and WhatsApp, Signal etc the same thing though. They're sms alternative proprietary apps. If Apple were to create an Android version it could challenge Whatsapp as the most popular messaging app. Either way luckily there's alternatives for all users. I have no problem using Whatsapp and other messaging apps across my devices.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
'Green Bubbles and Blue Bubbles Want to Be Together' Says Samsung Ad Pushing Apple to Adopt RCS
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I live in both camps. Typing this on a Pixel phone, a phone that also has iMessage thanks to 3rd party tools.
While I love the feature set of RCS, it isn't exactly prime time just yet.
RCS is great when it works, but gives me nightmares of 90s AOL messaging with a friend using an unreliable Internet connection.
While I love the feature set of RCS, it isn't exactly prime time just yet.
- People will drop out of group chats without actually intending to,
- End to end encryption drops for unknown reasons.
- Sometimes a single user can cause a chain reaction that just kills a chat, or unknowingly causes someone to be ghosted and miss a huge portion of a group conversation before mysteriously reappearing out of nowhere.
RCS is great when it works, but gives me nightmares of 90s AOL messaging with a friend using an unreliable Internet connection.
There is another reason I personally don't want Apple to adopt RCS, at least for now. I believe iMessage is still a very strong reason for choosing and staying within the Apple ecosystem, and the more users the ecosystem has, the stronger/more reliable it is. Google provides a nice competitive force that keeps Apple at bay - but let's be honest, the ecosystem is far behind, and that's the reason Android users get shamed on a regular basis. I hear even folks at Google use iPhones because, to quote something I heard from a former Google employee, "you are not getting a date in the bay area if your texts come through in green".
If you want blue then you have to get a proper device: An iPod, a phone, an Internet communicator. Say it with me: an iPod, a phone, an Internet communicator… with blue bubbles.
Why are people so anti RCS? Not everyone wants an iPhone, and outside of the US no one uses imessage, heck the only sms messages I get are 2 factor.
Sigh… I seriously can’t comprehend statements like this. You act like every iPhone owner only knows and interacts with other iPhone owners!? It makes me mad as well, I know several people who owns Android phones, and it IS seriously annoying that I have to use other chat services to text them to come even close to the iMessage experience between iPhones. I know iOS holds a bigger share in the US, but it’s the same story here in Sweden. But there’s still like 40-45% Android owners in both of our countries. This is just Apple being Apple… Just look at USB-C… It took Europe (EU) basically forcing them to adopt it on the iPhones.
The encryption is not "a closed proprietary Google library"
It uses the Signal protocol which is open-source and quite well-audited
RCS E2EE whitepaper
One example is that Apple has the MMS file size limit set extraordinarily low so sending videos or any large media to Android devices results in an extremely compressed mess and a poor user experience. Most modern Android devices (and carriers) support much higher MMS size limits, and RCS/iMessage support significantly higher attachment limits.
Because Apple doesn't want to support RCS or allow modern attachment sizes, they have intentionally created a poor user experience for anyone not using their proprietary and OS-locked messaging service for basic messaging.
What is bad about the current implementation of iMessage? iMessage is fantastic. Are you referring to the implementation of green bubbles? That's nothing to do with iMessage, that's texts.
Also, I'm happy with Apples communications standards, thanks. Keep them as far away from Googles hands and their spyware.
If Google and Android want the iMessage experience, they can start promoting iPhones, so they, and all their customers can enjoy it👍
It’s just capitalism and zero regulations at play.
Why does anyone, including Samsung, expect this to change without intervention from a government?
iMessage being an Apple exclusive is a major asset to Apple. Of course they’ll never willingly give it up.
Why does anyone, including Samsung, expect this to change without intervention from a government?
iMessage being an Apple exclusive is a major asset to Apple. Of course they’ll never willingly give it up.
Well in a way this is about the superiority of chat apps such as WhatsApp, Signal and iMessage over SMS. They all do the same thing, using your email and or phone number as a global ID with which other details are associated, allowing them to transfer rich sets of content over end-to-end encrypted channels.
But SMS has never really tried to catch up with those proprietary messaging protocols. They’ve been behind for a long time, and RCS is the first serious attempt in many years to formulate an open standard.
I don’t see any of the big proprietary players giving up their advantage to level the playing field with the smaller players. At least not voluntarily.
But SMS has never really tried to catch up with those proprietary messaging protocols. They’ve been behind for a long time, and RCS is the first serious attempt in many years to formulate an open standard.
I don’t see any of the big proprietary players giving up their advantage to level the playing field with the smaller players. At least not voluntarily.
The easiest for Google and Samsung would probably be to team up with EU, which in turn would make RCS a new mandatory standard.
Just think how EU got USB-C through.
Edit:
Oh, seems like they have tried.
Just think how EU got USB-C through.
Edit:
Oh, seems like they have tried.
EU spares Apple from mandatory RCS, for now
Apple talked the EU out of assigning gatekeeper status to iMessage, delaying forced RCS support
www.androidpolice.com
I second this. Stop forcing android trash on my iPhone. If you want an android phone then buy one. It’s bad enough with Apple doing it with stuff like the action, AKA Bixby button…
Exactly, that's why the EU has no reason to consider iMessage a monopoly and force them to adopt other protocols, because as you said, iMessage is barely used in the EU so it's far from being a "gatekeeper".