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Apple wont adopt RCS until it has been proven to be safe and stable, aka Standardized. When have you seen Apple to adopt something "new"? Apple's business is not to to give you what you want, but instead, what you need to have a smooth and reliable experience. There are others like, Samsung, Google and almost every other Android-google-alpha related company that uses it's customers like guinea pig with every new device they launch. Adding "advanced features" that are half cooked, just for everyone to find out months later that they are killing those features or simply failing catastrophically like batteries in Note 7....
 
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You're just kicking the can down the road 'cause Apple will always introduce new features (ideally to be used constantly by iMessage users) and group chats will always be disrupted in green vs blue bubbles.

So yes supporting RCS would solve some specific issues in some specific chats but the green vs blue bubble divide isn't going anywhere.

3 years from now we'll be VR-iMessaging or something, RCS won't cover that and green bubbles are never gonna be seamlessly integrated with iMessage.
Nobody pretends that RCS would put a term to the blue/green bubble war, of course that blue bubble people will always have a better experience. But we're in 2022 and there are still very basic features that can't be done in the app because there are a few Android people in our contacts. RCS doesn't prevent Apple from innovating and bringing new features, it just remove some frustration from both the Android user and the iPhone user.
 
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By Apple not adopting RCS, they are forcing their users into a less secure and outdated SMS/MMS protocols when communicating w/ anyone outside of the Apple ecosystem.

So their strategy is 100% iMessage adoption, when it's clear that would be impossible (regulatory pushback, competitive forces, etc.). This is not a realistic strategy; it doesn't benefit the company or its customers. A real boneheaded move on Apple's part.
 
LOOOOOOL, Apple's never EVER been about choice. This company has the biggest hard on for restrictions of any tech giant, EVER.

You couldn‘t be more wrong about this if you tried. Apple is the other choice. If it wasn‘t for Apple, all everyone would have ever known or used would have been Windows and Android, respectively. You should be very thankful that Apple prevented both these monocultures.
 
You're just kicking the can down the road 'cause Apple will always introduce new features (ideally to be used constantly by iMessage users) and group chats will always be disrupted in green vs blue bubbles.

So yes supporting RCS would solve some specific issues in some specific chats but the green vs blue bubble divide isn't going anywhere.

3 years from now we'll be VR-iMessaging or something, RCS won't cover that and green bubbles are never gonna be seamlessly integrated with iMessage, unless we imagine Apple freezing the iMessage feature set (that's stifling innovation).
Let me try to explain it even though you are set on this.

You message a Android user today. The message automatically falls back to SMS/MMS. This means the picture you just sent gets converted to Garbage.

You message a Android user in the future. The message automatically falls back to RCS. The picture you send is a full resolution photo.

Has anything changed other than end user experience improvement? No.

I can't explain it any more simply. Stop over-complicating it.

You made up a silly scenario with VR messaging. You want in the future to still not be able to send a picture to an Android user? Why is that?
 
*Xbox/PS users yelling in background*

“Let our player play with your players!”

Sorry, that’s what came to mind. That and Google telling Apple how to do messaging is comical.

Uhh...Xbox and Playstation and PC all have crossplay with each other, and sometimes also with Nintendo Switch if the technology allows it. Crossplay is industry standard with gaming now

 
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To my knowledge, RCS is end-to-end encrypted between 2 people. I know group chat wasn't, but if it's not here yet, I'm sure it's in the works. I do think Apple needs to add RCS support, as SMS isn't encrypted at all and it will allow for richer features for group chat. However, RCS was just agreed upon amongst US Carriers last year, so my guess would be iOS 17 at the earliest (assuming they do add it).
 
RCS is practically a walking corpse. That said, apple should still adopt it into the default messages app. It is a significant upgrade over SMS and while the carrier lockout issues are dumb, people can always continue to use other apps like they already are doing if they are a dealbreaker. SMS is just as unencrypted as RCS is, it's not like it uniquely erodes your privacy.

They should probably just choose a new color for RCS to avoid it being confusing over if you're doing SMS or RCS, like orange or purple.
 
My take on this is: Distinguishing iMessage users from other users in my UI is a valuable feature for me, as I can approach communication with certain expectations of delivery, quality, security, and privacy. I value the blue/green distinction.

Having said that, I wouldn't mind for Apple to implement RCS support on the green-bubble-side. Since RCS features have none of those guarantees (ie: My understanding is that though the protocol provides for some of those features, it's entirely up to the carriers how their RCS messaging is implemented), maintaining the distinction between delivery via iMessage and delivery via "other messaging" is important to me.

In short, I see RCS adoption really just as an evolution on the scale of SMS -> MMS. In that context, RCS is almost like the "next-generation" of carrier-controlled messaging features. I don't particularly care if I'm messaging someone whether that message is sent as SMS or RCS. I do care whether the message is sent as iMessage vs SMS/MMS/RCS though, because that has implications of quality & privacy as discussed above.

So, if Apple has the engineering bandwidth, why not implement RCS support under the green-bubbles? But RCS is not at all equivalent to iMessages, and should not be treated as such in the UI.
 


Google's Android team today launched a new "Get the Message" website that again calls on Apple to adopt Rich Communication Services or RCS for the Messages app. Google has been pushing Apple to adopt RCS for months now, with no response from Apple.

android-apple-fix-rcs.jpg

RCS is designed to replace the current SMS messaging standard. It offers support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, bigger file sizes, improved encryption, emoji reactions, more reliable group chats, and more.

The "Get the Message" website is aimed at addressing the "green/blue bubbles" issue between iPhone and Android users along with problems in cross-platform messaging such as low quality photos and videos, issues with group chat, end-to-end encryption, read receipts, and typing indicators, pointing out that these issues could be addressed if Apple adopted RCS. "It's time for Apple to fix texting," reads the website.The website says that iPhones downgrade photos and videos from Android users, prevent people from leaving group chats with Android users, stop iPhone users from texting Android phones over WiFi, make messages from Android users difficult to read, and leave messages between iOS and Android users unencrypted. The site encourages people to help Apple get the message through tweets, plus it highlights news articles about Android/iPhone communications.

Alongside the website, the Android team has also provided a blog post that explains the how Rich Communication Services works and why text conversations between iPhone and Android users sometimes experience issues. The blog post says that group chats "feel outdated" because iPhones are still using SMS and MMS for conversations.RCS could "connect all smartphone users" and bring a "secure, modern messaging experience" to everyone," according to Google's blog post. The article echos several prior Google attempts to get Apple to acknowledge RCS, all of which have been unsuccessful.

As of mid-2021, Google and all major carriers have swapped over to RCS, but Google has not been able to convince Apple to adopt the standard. Senior vice president of Android Hiroshi Lockheimer has been tweeting about RCS and Apple's lack of support for months now, and Google has even resorted to sarcastic explainer videos.

There continues to be no word on when Apple might adopt Rich Communication Services, nor information on whether Apple is considering it.

Article Link: 'It's Time for Apple to Fix Texting' Says New Android Website Pushing RCS Messaging Technolo


Google's Android team today launched a new "Get the Message" website that again calls on Apple to adopt Rich Communication Services or RCS for the Messages app. Google has been pushing Apple to adopt RCS for months now, with no response from Apple.

android-apple-fix-rcs.jpg

RCS is designed to replace the current SMS messaging standard. It offers support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, bigger file sizes, improved encryption, emoji reactions, more reliable group chats, and more.

The "Get the Message" website is aimed at addressing the "green/blue bubbles" issue between iPhone and Android users along with problems in cross-platform messaging such as low quality photos and videos, issues with group chat, end-to-end encryption, read receipts, and typing indicators, pointing out that these issues could be addressed if Apple adopted RCS. "It's time for Apple to fix texting," reads the website.The website says that iPhones downgrade photos and videos from Android users, prevent people from leaving group chats with Android users, stop iPhone users from texting Android phones over WiFi, make messages from Android users difficult to read, and leave messages between iOS and Android users unencrypted. The site encourages people to help Apple get the message through tweets, plus it highlights news articles about Android/iPhone communications.

Alongside the website, the Android team has also provided a blog post that explains the how Rich Communication Services works and why text conversations between iPhone and Android users sometimes experience issues. The blog post says that group chats "feel outdated" because iPhones are still using SMS and MMS for conversations.RCS could "connect all smartphone users" and bring a "secure, modern messaging experience" to everyone," according to Google's blog post. The article echos several prior Google attempts to get Apple to acknowledge RCS, all of which have been unsuccessful.

As of mid-2021, Google and all major carriers have swapped over to RCS, but Google has not been able to convince Apple to adopt the standard. Senior vice president of Android Hiroshi Lockheimer has been tweeting about RCS and Apple's lack of support for months now, and Google has even resorted to sarcastic explainer videos.

There continues to be no word on when Apple might adopt Rich Communication Services, nor information on whether Apple is considering it.

Article Link: 'It's Time for Apple to Fix Texting' Says New Android Website Pushing RCS Messaging Technology


Google's Android team today launched a new "Get the Message" website that again calls on Apple to adopt Rich Communication Services or RCS for the Messages app. Google has been pushing Apple to adopt RCS for months now, with no response from Apple.

android-apple-fix-rcs.jpg

RCS is designed to replace the current SMS messaging standard. It offers support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, bigger file sizes, improved encryption, emoji reactions, more reliable group chats, and more.

The "Get the Message" website is aimed at addressing the "green/blue bubbles" issue between iPhone and Android users along with problems in cross-platform messaging such as low quality photos and videos, issues with group chat, end-to-end encryption, read receipts, and typing indicators, pointing out that these issues could be addressed if Apple adopted RCS. "It's time for Apple to fix texting," reads the website.The website says that iPhones downgrade photos and videos from Android users, prevent people from leaving group chats with Android users, stop iPhone users from texting Android phones over WiFi, make messages from Android users difficult to read, and leave messages between iOS and Android users unencrypted. The site encourages people to help Apple get the message through tweets, plus it highlights news articles about Android/iPhone communications.

Alongside the website, the Android team has also provided a blog post that explains the how Rich Communication Services works and why text conversations between iPhone and Android users sometimes experience issues. The blog post says that group chats "feel outdated" because iPhones are still using SMS and MMS for conversations.RCS could "connect all smartphone users" and bring a "secure, modern messaging experience" to everyone," according to Google's blog post. The article echos several prior Google attempts to get Apple to acknowledge RCS, all of which have been unsuccessful.

As of mid-2021, Google and all major carriers have swapped over to RCS, but Google has not been able to convince Apple to adopt the standard. Senior vice president of Android Hiroshi Lockheimer has been tweeting about RCS and Apple's lack of support for months now, and Google has even resorted to sarcastic explainer videos.

There continues to be no word on when Apple might adopt Rich Communication Services, nor information on whether Apple is considering it.

Article Link: 'It's Time for Apple to Fix Texting' Says New Android Website Pushing RCS Messaging Technology
I only get text messages from companies and spammers. For everyone else it’s iMessage or WhatsApp. I don’t see the need. I also don’t want anything else from companies (or spammers - obviously).
 
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SMS is a simple function of cell connectivity. It uses spare space (ever wonder why the 160 character limit?) in a particular cell communication packet, and pretty much every network/carrier supports it.

iMessage uses only data, regardless of how you get it (cell, wifi, tethering, etc.) and only requires Apple's back-end servers.

RCS requires not just cell connectivity but data as well, AND it requires the particular cell network that you're on to support it, too, as the carrier gets involved, and there are different versions and features and levels of support.

Seems to me like RCS would be the most troublesome of all of them. Additionally, one should always have fallback to SMS for when they're in places that don't have data service (roaming, carrier, weak signal, etc.)
 
Not sure what you mean, iMessage is a proprietary messaging protocol, and Google can't implement it without Apple authorization. And Apple has nothing to gain to make iMessage cross platform. Same for Google
They originally pitched it as expected to be cross platform in the future FWIW
 
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