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.
Other how popular is iMessage in your home country?
- Thread starter HALE101
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It amazes me when we got to France to visit family no one uses iMessage. Everyone uses WhatsApp. I never once encountered someone in France using iMessage.
I believe the availability of lots of good low cost Android phones results in a larger market share of these devices. In the US, there is nobody other than Samsung offering decent smartphones. WhatsApp is just the best solution for cross device communication and people don’t seem to care the fact they are giving all their communication habits into the hands of the 2nd largest data selling company.
I hate WhatsApp, but I cannot get rid of it, because all my friends and family in Europe use it.
I hate WhatsApp, but I cannot get rid of it, because all my friends and family in Europe use it.
I'm in the US, so you know the story already.
I use iMessage to communicate with friends outside the US. They have iPhones, I don't have WhatsApp, so it works.
Been using iMessage with a friend in Birmingham, UK for ten years now. On pain of verbal assault from him about how much SMS costs him (and me) I continue to use it.
I use iMessage to communicate with friends outside the US. They have iPhones, I don't have WhatsApp, so it works.
Been using iMessage with a friend in Birmingham, UK for ten years now. On pain of verbal assault from him about how much SMS costs him (and me) I continue to use it.
I’m in Mexico. No one uses iMessage, despite most friends and family owning iPhones
iMessage for me. If I needed to use an alternative that was also secure, it would be Signal. No way I would use WhatsApp or one of the other Google / FaceBook owned / Social Media obsessed messaging apps.
Last edited:
In germany iMessage is not very popular.
Here is WhatsApp No 1
but i and my friends using telegram.
Since 2 years i have facetime and iMessage disabled on mac and iPhone.
Here is WhatsApp No 1
but i and my friends using telegram.
Since 2 years i have facetime and iMessage disabled on mac and iPhone.
This is my setup, I mainly use iMessage and for android friends i use signal, if they don’t want to use signal then or iMessage then I don’t contact them! Easy
I used to use WhatsApp until Facebook bought them.
I don’t get that, why have a iPhone and not use iMessage!
Exactly. If people state they want to converse with me but won't make any real effort to do so, that tells me said people are either lying or lazy. Either way, I don't have time for either.
One thing I will not do is sacrifice security and privacy to try and be more popular.
Here in Canada, at least in my friend bubble, everyone uses Facebook, Instagram messenger. or Snapchat. WhatsApp is virutally non-existent in Canada. I don't have a iPhone (though I plan to get one), so I can't say or judge whether or not iMessage is popular here in Canada. However, based on my mom's iPhone, nearly everyone in her friend bubble is on iMessage based on blue bubbles.
In France tons of people have iPhone but Whatapp is way more popular than iMessage.
In France iMessages is used don't get me wrong but mainly for direct conversation with 2 persons like classic SMS, while for group discussions Whatapp or Facebook messenger are more popular despite everyone know privacy is not the best for these two...
It's weird but I guess the first explanation is just, mainstream French users here prefer using the most used product rather that the best application
In France iMessages is used don't get me wrong but mainly for direct conversation with 2 persons like classic SMS, while for group discussions Whatapp or Facebook messenger are more popular despite everyone know privacy is not the best for these two...
It's weird but I guess the first explanation is just, mainstream French users here prefer using the most used product rather that the best application
This, I think, is a big reason. At least in the US, pretty much everyone has unlimited SMS, not crossing borders with their communications, and a huge install base of iPhones, so Messages is it. Cross-platform wrt SMS and no-one needs to install any other app(s). All but one person I message regularly is iPhone, so, done deal. The one Android person has free SMS, but only uses whatever Google Hangouts is called these days. Can live with that as I have a Google Voice number, so need the app for that anyways.
And probably age of people involved. Some are stuck in their ways, or in my case, not wanting to deal with multiple messaging apps, so default mode is send a text.
In the U.S., I don't really think of iMessage as "popular" as people don't usually bring it up. We always talk about "texting" (SMS), which just happens to use iMessage if you own an iOS device.
So it is very popular, but only because a lot of Americans own an iPhone. It's not because people say "I'll iMessage you" and everyone either iMessages or doesn't communicate at all as I've heard it is in Europe with Whatsapp. Now that I think about it, Facebook Messenger is probably our version of Whatsapp, but it's mostly used in addition to SMS or for things like communicating with groups/businesses, not as the only thing (unless you're poor to be frank).
So it is very popular, but only because a lot of Americans own an iPhone. It's not because people say "I'll iMessage you" and everyone either iMessages or doesn't communicate at all as I've heard it is in Europe with Whatsapp. Now that I think about it, Facebook Messenger is probably our version of Whatsapp, but it's mostly used in addition to SMS or for things like communicating with groups/businesses, not as the only thing (unless you're poor to be frank).
I’m in Canada. Almost everyone I know use Facebook Messenger (way more than I’d like). Peoples with iPhones around me use iMessages occasionally, but it’s nowhere near the usage of Messenger. I personally use iMessages and Signal, as I’m trying to use less and less of Facebook, but it’s hard because everyone uses FB. Of course my comment isn’t representative of the whole country.
I don’t know anybody who use WhatsApp. It’s not a very used app in Canada
I don’t know anybody who use WhatsApp. It’s not a very used app in Canada
Last edited:
UK here and no one in my friend/work circle uses iMessage, it's WhatsApp all the way. To be honest I prefer WhatsApp's interface to iMessage so it suits me well enough.
I'm in Toronto and probably around 95 percent of my friends and work colleagues all communicate with iMessage. I have two ppl I talk to on what's app. My boyfriend is in Portugal and I finally got him to switch to iMessage 😀
Because not everyone uses an iPhone and everyone (but me) use WA, so when they get an iPhone they keep using what they've used before.
Most people have "forgotten" SMS even exists; at least here in Mx WA is now the standard channel of communication by cellphone: When I give my cell phone to patients they get annoyed they can not send me whatsapp messages (I do not have WA on my phones, I've never used it), they are stumped by the fact "they have no way to reach me"
Go figure.
Last edited:
Yup UK here as well ,me and my friends use WhatsApp, not going to blow out my mates because they don’t have IPhones !!!!
Scottie
I’m in the U.K., I have never used whatsapp and not going to start. I use iMessage for people with iPhones, I ask people to use signal if they want to message me from a non-iPhone, or sms if they won’t/don’t use signal. Works fine. Don’t need WhatsApp.
In Norway people mostly use FB Messenger and Snapchat for messaging. I’d love to use only iMessage, but alas I’m in the minority.
WhatsApp is ****.
WhatsApp is ****.
Nonexistent south of the border (Latin America). Everyone uses WhatsApp.
U.K. here. iMessage is limited to iPhones which very highly limits its usage here. In my family (we are 19), only two of us have iPhones - my wife and I. And as others from U.K. have already said using iMessage after WhatsApp just feels like such barebones experience.
I don't think iMessage will ever be the most popular messaging app, even if they launch an Android app, here in the U.K. WhatsApp is too embedded now especially now that we've got our grandmas, dads etc. using WhatsApp.
I don't think iMessage will ever be the most popular messaging app, even if they launch an Android app, here in the U.K. WhatsApp is too embedded now especially now that we've got our grandmas, dads etc. using WhatsApp.
I can confirm that in Mexico and the countries I've visited in LATAM (Argentina, Colombia), no one uses iMessage, even in all-iPhone households. Heck, Android users don't use SMS (or "texts" as they call it in the US) either. No body "texts" anymore. So, it's not a matter of iMessage but SMS and texting in general.
Like in Europe, it's all about WhatsApp.
Like in Europe, it's all about WhatsApp.