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Just noticed on my MBA M1 on beta 1 Sequoia RCS is working in Messages.

I noticed most of my friends who have Android RCS is not popping up on my 15 Pro Max or MBA. Is this also hardware specific on the Android side?
 
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RCS, or Rich Communication Services, allows iPhone and Android users to exchange higher quality photos and videos, audio messages, and larger file sizes. Features like read receipts and real-time typing indicators are supported too, with a full list of what's new available below.
  • Improved group chats.
Has anyone played with iOS 18 Beta's Messages group chat & new behaviors around RCS?

  1. What happens to an iMessage group chat when an RCS user is added?
  2. What happens to an iMessage group chat if all RCS users are removed or leave?
  3. What are the differences between an iMessage chat & and an RCS chat? An iMessage group chat & and an RCS group chat?
I suspect the big difference is going to be encryption on the iMessage chats & no encryption (for now) for RCS. Hopefully tapbacks work well. Stickers probably won't...

It would be cool if Android users could be invited to an iMessage chat or group chat by an Apple user, like how FaceTime works today. I get that Apple wants to compel people to stay on Apple platforms, but at this point, they are inconveniencing their own users. Today, if I want to chat with an Android user in Messages, we get downgraded to SMS: no encryption, no large file support, etc. If I add an Android user to an iMessage chat, in addition to the SMS downgrades, the participant list is frozen (so the chat eventually dies or people are held hostage). Crazy. So I text Android users outside the iMessage chat, which is cumbersome. Or we use Signal. Not everyone wants to install one more app though.
 
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Is this mainly a thing used in the US since the rest of the world is just using WhatsApp? I honestly don’t remember the last time I sent an SMS. Probably 15 years ago so this whole concept of sending a “text” to android users is foreign to me.
Yeah, texting is still common in the US. I'm in the US and have never used WhatsApp in my life, though I do use telegram which is similar, to talk to some people.
 
Has anyone played with iOS 18 Beta's Messages group chat & new behaviors around RCS?

  1. What happens to an iMessage group chat when an RCS user is added?
  2. What happens to an iMessage group chat if all RCS users are removed or leave?
  3. What are the differences between an iMessage chat & and an RCS chat? An iMessage group chat & and an RCS group chat?
I suspect the big difference is going to be encryption on the iMessage chats & no encryption (for now) for RCS. Hopefully tapbacks work well. Stickers probably won't...

It would be cool if Android users could be invited to an iMessage chat or group chat by an Apple user, like how FaceTime works today. I get that Apple wants to compel people to stay on Apple platforms, but at this point, they are inconveniencing their own users. Today, if I want to chat with an Android user in Messages, we get downgraded to SMS: no encryption, no large file support, etc. If I add an Android user to an iMessage chat, in addition to the SMS downgrades, the participant list is frozen (so the chat eventually dies or people are held hostage). Crazy. So I text Android users outside the iMessage chat, which is cumbersome. Or we use Signal. Not everyone wants to install one more app though.
If everyone isn’t on iOS 18, RCS won’t work.
 
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As far as colors…

I suspect RCS is green and not some other color because to Apple green simply denotes carrier messaging no matter the protocol. And blue is simply to distinguish when you’re not using carrier service but instead using Apple’s built-in iMessage service.

That’s also why the iPhone Messages app icon is green, because it is a carrier messaging app, with iMessage built in—it’s not an iMessages app with carrier messaging built in.

I don’t think Apple wants to add more colors unnecessarily, but maybe if RCS really takes off and there is a loud cry to have a better visual distinction between RCS and SMS/MMS, then Apple might be pressured into using a different chat bubble color. But do Android phones even use different colors for SMS and RCS? I kind of doubt Apple would if most Android phones don’t.

edit- I’ve been told at least some Android phones do distinguish RCS and SMS by color.
 
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I guess my biggest question is, why is it carrier specific (I'm ignorant to this, and could probably look it up, but would rather ask everyone here 🙂 )

Also, will this be something that MVNOs (such as Mint / Visible) support? I know they will eventually, but I'd love for a day 1 rollout.
Because it’s a carrier service. The carriers have to support it on their end for it to work just like SMS/MMS. Most carriers do and most carriers use Jibe to do so, but not all. Some still maintain their own servers to support and there are probably a handful of very small carriers that do not support at all. Before most of these carrier agreements were in place for them to provide support at the carrier level Google just bypassed them and offered direct connectivity between their Google Messages app and the Jive server.

Apple could do what Google did and just bypass the carrier control if they do not support it, however I’d be extremely surprised if that happened. Most likely Apple will only be implementing this the way it was originally designed to be implemented and that as a carrier service. As time goes on, I’d expect more and more carriers to implement the service. For the carriers that use Jibe it’s a simple process.
 
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As far as colors…

I suspect RCS is green and not some other color because to Apple green simply denotes carrier messaging no matter the protocol. And blue is simply to distinguish when you’re not using carrier service but instead using Apple’s built-in iMessage service.

That’s also why the iPhone Messages app icon is green, because it is a carrier messaging app, with iMessage built in—it’s not an iMessages app with carrier messaging built in.

I don’t think Apple wants to add more colors unnecessarily, but maybe if RCS really takes off and there is a loud cry to have a better visual distinction between RCS and SMS/MMS, then Apple might be pressured into using a different chat bubble color. But do Android phones even use different colors for SMS and RCS? I kind of doubt Apple would if most Android phones don’t.
Yes they do. In Google Messages RCS is dark blue and SMS is light blue. Apple could do the same with the RCS being dark green and SMS light green. However the fact that Apple seems to equate color with who is providing the messaging service I’m not sure they will.
 
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This is a public forum to discuss random things with different opinions and who are you to tell me what I can and cannot say
Somewhat true, but if a comment is mostly irrelevant and doesn’t really contribute anything to the discussion, and that same comment keeps showing up and flooding the comments every time, then eventually it makes reading through the comments long and laborious and unfruitful, and at that point you’re going to get push back. Not that it’s necessarily your fault—it’s likely you didn’t know what you were contributing to. But people will make it known to you.
 
As far as colors…

I suspect RCS is green and not some other color because to Apple green simply denotes carrier messaging no matter the protocol. And blue is simply to distinguish when you’re not using carrier service but instead using Apple’s built-in iMessage service.

That’s also why the iPhone Messages app icon is green, because it is a carrier messaging app, with iMessage built in—it’s not an iMessages app with carrier messaging built in.

I don’t think Apple wants to add more colors unnecessarily, but maybe if RCS really takes off and there is a loud cry to have a better visual distinction between RCS and SMS/MMS, then Apple might be pressured into using a different chat bubble color. But do Android phones even use different colors for SMS and RCS? I kind of doubt Apple would if most Android phones don’t.
On Android, RCS is a different shade with a gradient than SMS, and you can change the colors of the bubbles from about 7 or 8 different options.
 
On Android, RCS is a different shade with a gradient than SMS, and you can change the colors of the bubbles from about 7 or 8 different options.

On Apple it’s still blue for their own devices and green for non-Apple devices. They’ll die before they change that or let users choose their own bubble colors.
 
RCS have been in Europe on Android for a while now and yet have made no difference Whatsapp, I presume it is on Android in the U.S. and again have made no difference to Whatsapp, so why would it being on Iphones make any difference?

More Android users than Iphone users.
I don't use Wjhatsapp myself or RCS.
does cell plans in European countries charge for RCS messages like SMS+MMS?
 
Has anyone played with iOS 18 Beta's Messages group chat & new behaviors around RCS?

  1. What happens to an iMessage group chat when an RCS user is added?
  2. What happens to an iMessage group chat if all RCS users are removed or leave?
  3. What are the differences between an iMessage chat & and an RCS chat? An iMessage group chat & and an RCS group chat?
I suspect the big difference is going to be encryption on the iMessage chats & no encryption (for now) for RCS. Hopefully tapbacks work well. Stickers probably won't...

It would be cool if Android users could be invited to an iMessage chat or group chat by an Apple user, like how FaceTime works today. I get that Apple wants to compel people to stay on Apple platforms, but at this point, they are inconveniencing their own users. Today, if I want to chat with an Android user in Messages, we get downgraded to SMS: no encryption, no large file support, etc. If I add an Android user to an iMessage chat, in addition to the SMS downgrades, the participant list is frozen (so the chat eventually dies or people are held hostage). Crazy. So I text Android users outside the iMessage chat, which is cumbersome. Or we use Signal. Not everyone wants to install one more app though.
To add onto that: whats the group chat participant limit with RCS? The spec defines 100, which is a drastic increase from iMessage's 32.
Wow no group RCS texting? That would be a pretty huge deal breaker, if true. Can anyone else confirm this?
There is group RCS texting, was even demonstrated as part of the B1 leak.
does cell plans in European countries charge for RCS messages like SMS+MMS?
The one I know of treat RCS no different than the other OTT Messengers like WhatsApp or iMessage: it‘s handled via your data plan and not charged per message. The RCS we know isn‘t really the original true carrier service RCS, that would‘ve been a tighter integration with each carrier instead of the OTT Messaging we have now (essentially iMessage lite).
 
I am on Fido. RCS option is not available.

Overall, iOS 18 beta 2 feel more sluggish than first beta. I had no issue running beta 1 on iPhone 11 Pro, but beta 2 struggles on iPhone 12 mini.
View attachment 2392339

This honestly feel like RCS roll out on iPhone going to be messy and long.
I hope not. But I can totally see you being right.
 
Since you are in IT what are your thoughts on data collection from Google without users permission?
But you do give them permission, using their products does that.
We all know what Google and other services like it are like.
My prob;em with data collection is with operating systems, where we have less choice or we did not use to have data collection.
 
Goodbye for me personally i hope. I only have it to speak to 3 friends/work colleagues
Depends if they decide tpo enable RCS on their phones, there is alway SMS anyway and in the UK at least SMS is normally part of the package, I have unlimited text, may as well use it.

RCS for me have no use and to be honest I don't really want messages going through Google servers, even if they say it is encrypted
 
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