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Other iMessage/SMS: Why the hate over 'green' bubbles?

Calling them 'greenies' and i hope whatever was in that Youtube video was a joke and not a reflection of how people really think because if that truly bothers people we're in deep trouble as a species. The things we hate...gosh. Is there a stigma over emoticons over emoji or emoji over Animoji next?

So long as the message actually gets there it's fine with me. I can get messages, green or blue on all my devices, so there doesn't seem to be much advantage of being exclusively iMessage anymore. Thanks, Apple for Continuity!
 
nickdalzell1 said:
I hoped it was just a meme or joke. But i'm reading stuff posted here and in links that suggest that people really are touchy over a color of a text message. There's just far more important things to be angry about than a simple color.
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I feel like you are still missing the point.

You: Why do people dislike SMS?
Replies: SMS has fewer features than iMessage.
You: oh, people seem to be touchy over a simple color difference.

It's not just the color. It has fewer features. Just because you personally don't use those features doesn't make other people's opinions of it wrong or them being too sensitive.

arn
 
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Other than Group messaging (which seems to be possible with SMS judging from the folks getting hate for being the green guy) all the benefits seem to no longer matter. You can send SMS and receive SMS from a Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad thanks to Continuity. All the features appear to work from what little i've used. I can understand privacy but even then there's some extreme stigma and people are ignoring conversations with 'greenies'. yeeesh. Now perhaps i can relate to the Super Mutants in Fallout lol

I thought it was an iOS vs Android thing. Given the Android logo is green. Lead to me wondering if folks using a BlackBerry Z10 have their own color or Windows users their own color.
 
See i can understand mature legitimate complaints but some in past threads using the green bubble as means to block or remove or end relationships with said person it just seems over the top.

Are people really offended to see the one green chat bubble in a group message? Sure not as many features but it certainly isn't breaking communication with folks just chatting, right?
 
nickdalzell1 said:
See i can understand mature legitimate complaints but some in past threads using the green bubble as means to block or remove or end relationships with said person it just seems over the top.

Are people really offended to see the one green chat bubble in a group message? Sure not as many features but it certainly isn't breaking communication with folks just chatting, right?
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Seems like we are kind of going in circles. As mentioned before, it's certainly more than the color (and the color itself not really having much to do with it) for many who have certain rational opinions about it. And for the few that it is somehow about color and just that then it really is more along the lines of a meme or some emotional extreme and not much more.
 
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nickdalzell1 said:
Are people really offended to see the one green chat bubble in a group message? Sure not as many features but it certainly isn't breaking communication with folks just chatting, right?
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Chats no. However, pics and videos get downgraded to 300-600KB making them practically unrecognizable.

I agree with @compwiz1202 that the underlying systems should be smart enough by now to selectively send iMessage to iMessage-capable devices instead of simply downgrading everyone to MMS.
 
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See when i used my Note 2 before switching back to Apple i sent photos and none got decompressed to horrible quality (mind you I don't really use a phone for its camera--I'd use a DSLR) but most were just photos from the internet and links to Youtube videos and they seemed fine on both ends regardless. The only issue i had where photos got pixelated to all ways was when i used to post a photo to Google+. That's actually one Google product i dearly miss. Not sure why they pulled it, but not sure why they pulled Inbox or Reader either but oh well. It was nice to have something other than Facebook.

I should just consider myself lucky. I'd hate to be the one left wondering why my girl would leave me over a green bubble if she were that kind of person. Even if she had an iPhone I'm just glad it hasn't impacted me whatsoever.

I certainly don't have any ill will over her messages being green on my Mac lately. I had major issues losing messages or them showing as not delivered (even though they were) or wondering if she was really typing when the typing indicator was showing, just wishing that could be turned off. Now that i can get SMS on all my devices i can finally leave FB Messenger and its annoyances behind. So long as communication remains possible I'm happy. I love Apple again, she uses what she's used to and if that's Android that's fine. Use what you like and have opinions but if folks really do block folks over something trivial I think they need to reexamine their life, no offense.
 
nickdalzell1 said:
See i can understand mature legitimate complaints but some in past threads using the green bubble as means to block or remove or end relationships with said person it just seems over the top.

Are people really offended to see the one green chat bubble in a group message? Sure not as many features but it certainly isn't breaking communication with folks just chatting, right?
Click to expand...

I’m surprised my point hasn’t been raised sooner (or perhaps I haven't read this thread closely enough) but it appears the whole “green/blue text” is an American phenomena.

WhatsApp/Viber/FB messenger/Telegram etc are far more popular overseas; many who own iPhones will also have WhatsApp, Viber, FB messenger setup.

No one would think twice to switch to another platform to continue communicating; this whole “bar people who don’t have an iPhone” crap some of you folks in the states do is childish and stupid.
 
Yeah at first when browsing things here to read I came up on what appeared to be folks actually ending relationships or blocking folks who's chat bubble was green.

Others were from 2010 where back then SMS wouldn't come through on all your devices because continuity didn't exist yet and I can see that as a legitimate complaint. Not enough still to bully another person or ignore or block them over it.

I'm reading articles that mention folks in Cosmopolitan and other magazines refusing to date anyone who dare chat in green and that's just silly and awful. There's far more important things to worry about than what color a freaking bubble is. iOS used to default to green before iMessage too.

It never impacted me one bit. And i can send both iMessage and SMS via all my Apple devices so the point is moot for me. I just hoped it was a bad joke. Something i'd expect from the Onion.

I've heard of Android vs. iOS but darn. this takes the cake. I used to have to deal with Fandroid trolls when i was starting with iPhone in 2010 but still, those folks did bully folks for simply not choosing Android over iPhone. But iPhone users banning folks or refusing to be friends over a chat bubble. that's just as bad if not worse.

I wonder if it will soon transition to where those who still use emoji are the 'greenies' and the ones using Memoji or Animoji are the 'blues'. I can see that coming.
 
I don’t stop communicating with people who have green text messages. That’s ridiculous. I do admit that like 80% of the people I communicate with now have iPhones so it looks weird to see the green, and sometimes the messages come in jumbled if they’re too long for sms. I can’t help but make a mental note that this is one of those android people. Maybe they are a super android nerd with a flagship Samsung, maybe they’re using a $40 pos prepaid phone, I could make all kinds of assumptions. I can’t help it, it’s become kind of an obscure thing in my peer group. Don’t take it so seriously. If anybody says they discriminate against android people I’m sure they’re joking...

That you’re so bewildered that anybody could use group messaging is interesting lol - Here’s an example. You're meeting up with 3-4 others for lunch and you want to text everybody and tell them where youd like to meet. Pretty obvious, it’s better to group message than to type the same thing 4 times and then relay their responses amongst the others to coordinate.
 
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The only 'greenie' i talk to is my girlfriend who prefers Android over iOS. That's her choice and all the power to her. I wouldn't stop loving her over the color of her text bubbles and it's not limiting anything on my Mac, iPad or whatnot. Images seem to work perfectly fine, and there's no 160 character limit from her or me, so maybe Apple fixed what ever caused this divide in the first place?

Group messaging just reminds me of chatrooms on AOL back in the 90s. If four friends of mine wanted to invite me to lunch, then just one sends me the text saying "hey Nick, me and the guys are having a cookout at Joe's house! Wanna come? 12 PM! see you there" and that's it. No need for all four to chat at once. Other times one of 'em would just call me. It's not like i'm meeting 5 strangers who don't each know I have an iPhone or something.

My only experience with group chat was FB Messenger when i'd get tagged in conversations that had been going on for days and I'd be late to the party as it were. I'd get constant notifications and assume it's a one-on-one from someone specific to find it's that thread again. I always prefer it to be one-on-one. Again, this is just from my past with AIM/MSN.
 
I don’t necessarily hate green bubble texts. What I don’t love is (a) the slower speed at which they’re sent and received, (2) issues with group threads with green bubbles, sometimes getting a green message from an individual as if they’re texting me alone but on their end they’re actually texting the text group.
 
Keep in mind re: my girlfriend, it's actually MY bubbles coming out green, but hers are dark grey. But she using an Android phone wouldn't notice.

My iPhone family doesn't even know what the green/blue means. We're all sorts of out of touch and unhip, ain't we? Oh well, our phones do 'just work'.
 
To be honest, you seem to be the one making such a big deal of blue/green bubbles.

Sure, there are annoyances that come with SMS/MMS particularly for messages >160 characters or with attachments. I doubt anyone here actually dwells on the issue or ignores someone because their messages are not in blue bubbles.

Heck, I know several iOS folks that are green bubbles so as not to get their messages mixed up because they use a shared iCloud account instead of setting up Family Sharing.
 
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nickdalzell1 said:
Just seems touchy and overeactive to me. Also I just don't need group messaging. Every text from any contact is specific and for one-on-one. Otherwise we just call each other. I understand the sentiment over Android but still.
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Well, considering you couldn’t even conceive of a case where someone would want to message more than one person at a time, the whole issue is clearly not in your bailiwick, and not really fair of you to decide that those of us who use it regularly are overreacting.

I’m middle aged, and have several group iMessage/texts going, along with individual text chains with individuals.

One group text is with a bunch of local friends, for planning outings and get-togethers, and one group iMessage is with my 73-year-old stepmom and her 71-year-old sister. We share pics and videos, news articles and personal stuff. It’s not about your age, it’s about your preferences. Which is fine, but if you don’t get it, you don’t get it.
 
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OP why are you going on about the same thing again and again even though almost everyone here has mentioned that the separation is not a thing?

People refer to green bubbles to denote non iOS users where iMessage doesn’t work and that means none of the iMessage specific features that a lot of people love iMessage/ iOS for.

Some examples of such features -

- group messaging
- reaction to messages
- Animoji
- stickers
- effects
- high quality photos and videos

Just because you don’t use these features doesn’t mean others don’t and everyone has a preference. People can choose whatever platform they want to use.

Mostly in North America people use iMessage because the dominance of iOS but in Europe and Asia there are other alternative platforms.

Personally I hate Facebook sucking up all my private data so I’ve abandoned them completely for my personal communication. So no Facebook messenger or WhatsApp for me. For cross platform communication I use signal. I’ve taken a stance against Facebook and have cut people off my life who didn’t want to switch. It’s a personal choice.

Edit - One more thing, iMessage works seamlessly even when your contacts don’t live in the same country. Since it uses data and not your text allowance you don’t pay anything at all for texting across the world, same any other data based messaging platform but the integration with iOS is what matters. For people like me who’s got friends and family across the globe iMessage is a no brainer.
 
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nickdalzell1 said:
All the threads are too old to dig up (my forum experience in the past there seems to be hatred for 'necro' threads so I'll create a new one):

I know there are great benefits to iMessage, such as security, having the ability to use it on Wifi, no limits like on some SMS plans, having it on all devices, etc...Back in my iOS 6- days, you actually didn't have continuity so you almost had to have iMessage contacts only to even get messages on an iPad or Mac.

But these days SMS 'green' bubbles seem to work over wifi and on all Apple devices, my Mac and iPad, iPod touch and iPhone and Watch all get SMS from the one contact in my life who has an outdated garbage Android (a Kyocera Brigadier), my girlfriend.

Once, i used Facebook Messenger to be able to talk to her via my iPad, etc or any Android devices during my 6 year absence from Apple. Wasn't really fun. But now that continuity/handoff allows SMS across devices why is there so much hatred on threads over 'green bubbles?' It works much the same and most texting is unlimited today. But from reading it's like my days of the Low End Mac forums where they got hostile should you spell 'Mac' as 'mac' or 'MAC' or use 'iTouch' to refer to an 'iPod touch.' People are really touchy!
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Few reasons:
- in some countries, carriers are charging you more if you text someone from other carriers.
- not all carriers have unlimited SMS plans
- picture and video quality of MMS are left from the prehistoric 90s

In Asia, hardly anybody uses regular SMS anymore other than OTPs, spam, or expats from western countries. Majority already migrated to WhatsApp/FB Messenger/Line/WeChat/Viber/etc. Funny thing is, iMessage doesn’t get too much traction either since majority of users are on Android.
 
nickdalzell1 said:
Calling them 'greenies' and i hope whatever was in that Youtube video was a joke and not a reflection of how people really think because if that truly bothers people we're in deep trouble as a species. The things we hate...gosh. Is there a stigma over emoticons over emoji or emoji over Animoji next?

So long as the message actually gets there it's fine with me. I can get messages, green or blue on all my devices, so there doesn't seem to be much advantage of being exclusively iMessage anymore. Thanks, Apple for Continuity!
Click to expand...

It’s an exaggerated comedy sketch but true at the same time.

When I switched back to Android with the Galaxy S7 for two years it caused a few issues for me that took a long time to resolve such as people with iPhones were still trying to iMessage me by default so I never got them. It was chaos.
 
I think Apple has created division based on who has access to iMessage and not. Those with green bubbles are deemed unworthy and chatting with them as regularly as those with blue bubbles is not possible for some. This is discrimination, period.
 
nickdalzell1 said:
But these days SMS 'green' bubbles seem to work over wifi and on all Apple devices, my Mac and iPad, iPod touch and iPhone and Watch all get SMS from the one contact in my life who has an outdated garbage Android (a Kyocera Brigadier), my girlfriend.
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I'm just going to address this part. But first, my son has an iPhone SE and engages in frequent group conversations with his peers at school. They use group messaging as a means to collaborate and communicate on the various school projects that their teachers assign as well as for other topics that interest their group.

There are Android users in their group chats, which means green bubbles. My son is 16. When I asked him about this several months back his response was basically, "What?" He didn't realize that this 'hate' was any sort of a thing. It's certainly not any kind of an issue in their group chats.

Back to SMS and your comment about how it seems to work over WiFi and all Apple devices. SMS is a cellular technology. It works on Mac because your phone and other cellular devices forward it. Your Mac cannot send SMS messages on it's own, unless using your iPhone or other cellular devices to send through. Unless of course, your Mac happens to have a cellular modem - but those are rare.

So, this is a disadvantage of SMS. It's not going to work if you don't have at least one device with a cellular connection. iMessage has the advantage of working over WiFi. You don't need cellular. And because it's not SMS and uses Apple's servers you don't get charged for using it when texting people outside your country.

iMessage is how I communicate with people I know all over the world without incurring SMS charges for the both of us. It allows me to use the two or three iPhones I have that don't have cellular lines and are WiFi only. I cannot use these devices for SMS.

So, if someone involved in a group iMessage/SMS conversation that is using SMS loses their cellular connection…they are out of the conversation until they get a connection back.

It's the above limitations (as well as others mentioned in this thread already) that some people dislike about SMS. They focus on the color (green) because it's a visual representation of these problems. It's the problems they actually hate, not the color itself.
 
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