That’s the one I’m waiting for. I guess there is very little incentive for them to make it work since the vast majority of people in the UK use WhatsApp.
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iOS 18.4 Brings RCS Support to Google Fi, Mint Mobile and Other T-Mobile MVNOs
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(paraphrasing) I don't understand how this works, so it can't be complicated for people on different platforms with different codebases implementing a poorly defined standard should be so hard. I mean if Google takes the RCS spec and fills in all the blanks needed to make it operate between a single codebase in their implementation, well people on different codebases that cannot just use Google's implementation (legally and technically because Android & iOS don't use the same languages) should be able to make all these things that I don't understand work (/paraphrasing).
That’s already been done, and it’s called WhatsApp.
This is why I don’t understand what problem RCS is trying to solve. Cross platform, device and network agnostic messaging is a solved problem. RCS does not add anything to this.
You assume that all networks have loads of people competent in configuring and debugging RCS just hanging around idle... It could also be that they need to dialog with Apple's RCS team and that they are already busy debugging with other networks.
Some of us refuse to install any Meta apps on our phones.
Yeah but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a solved problem, it just means you are choosing not to use the solution.
Apple's network fallback logic still has legacy baggage from when Apple first designed it (ie, to work well with Airport access points, not so well with third parties).
The protocol works fine on Android phones that have had it for the past few years. It is only Apple's implementation of the protocol that is a mess. It would seem that Apple has forgotten how to implement standards or work in a multi-platform environment, because every time they try, they fail pretty miserably.
The Android implementation uses Google’s version of RCS, not the standard RCS. That’s why it works on Android.
If Android phones used the standard version of RCS they’d have the same problems.
Would they? I suspect they wouldn't be using a six year old implementation of RCS, like Apple is choosing to do. A lot has been fixed and changed since then.
The reason RCS works so relatively well on Android is because Google is controlling the technology behind the scenes, the same way Apple controls the technology behind iMessage.
However, this defeats the point of RCS, which is to have a cross-messaging platform that is NOT controlled by one of the technology giants and is instead controlled by the mobile networks, the same way SMS is.
This is why RCS is kinda pointless. It doesn’t solve any issue that hasn’t already been solved.
Google built their own RCS servers because the carries were dragging their feet. Once everyone is up and going, I suspect Google will offload to the carriers.
Again, it doesn't explain why Apple is using a years-old version of RCS.
Then I guess it won't get used by millions of people around the world and it will die and nobody will care.
It’s also why RCS can’t really get off the ground; there’s no incentive or need to make it work.
Plenty of people here (US) do care, and there is incentive. Almost all the MVNOs now have support, and the big three carriers have since iOS18 was released. Zero to full carrier support in less than a year isn't too bad, no?
I wish WhatsApp was more popular here (and in Canada), but it's just not. Plenty have never heard of it, or if they have, install it and then see that none of their contacts are using it.
What are you talking about?
same for SwitzerlandUseless. RCS message isn't supported by any telco in Australia still!
That just means the USA becomes an RCS silo whilst the rest of the world uses something else.
Huh, I don't like the sound of that. I don't think Apple should be able to gatekeeper network carriers.
They don’t, but Apple are responsible for pushing the carrier profile to people’s phones.
That's fine; it's been that way with iMessage for years and no one really cares.
I'm just happy to have RCS...I text a lot of Android users daily. I checked my WhatsApp, and of my 292 contacts, 5 are using it.