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.
RCS in iOS 18: What You Need to Know About Apple's Android Messaging Overhaul
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why do I have this feeling that when iOS 18 comes out with RCS they're going to drop all iMessage and FaceTime support for older devices they can't run the latest iOS version.
I remember when they did that to us with iOS 6, you had to have something that ran iOS 7 or newer in order to continue to use FaceTime and iMessage.
They won’t drop iMessage and FaceTime support for older devices.
They will drop support for bunch of devices. If you want RCS on iPhone, buy the fancy new iPhone 16 for just $100 more! Don’t wait, just buy!
you're just proving my point.
you have no idea how iOS is separating iMessage and sms and how it defaults to one over the other.
random guess
which negates the reason why they turned it on in the first place. not a fix for all.
completely missing the point.
Proving your point about what?
You obviously don’t understand how RCS works it uses data & WiFi unlike standard text messaging.
If the iPad can’t send that message then that’s on Apple for providing that poor service.
That’s one of the reasons the European Union are looking into iMessage as a gatekeeper app.
when someone asks 'why did you not get my message', that immediately becomes a problem they have to care about.
we're discussing the current state of confusion between imessage and sms.
the current iMessage conversations don't reach android phones.
rcs doesn't solve this when conversations are still being sent over iMessage protocol. rcs doesn't 'upgrade' iMessage conversations to use rcs. and it's not apple's fault for not being able to relay a message from xyz person's iPad to xyz person's android phone.
you clearly are avoiding this particular critical path in the user story.
Last edited:
However, it is more likely than not that the Venn diagram of Android phone.iPad intersection is small enough to be ignored.
True, but you don't have to fix it for everyone just becasue a few edge cases have issues.
And you've completely missed mine - most users do not care about bubble color, all this noise about lesser phones is just that, noise.
However, that doesn't appear to be a widespread issues outside of these forums' echo chambers, if it was it'd be news. My Android using friends get messages just fine, and vice versa.
True. RCS isn't a panacea but may meet the interoperability requirements of the EU.
Rubbish
I’ve just sent a text message from my iPad to a pixel and it’s showed up.
It must be YOUR network that’s the problem
iPad can’t send text message (even on cellular version). So there is no way for iPad to send regular SMS. iPad can send iMessage to iOS devices or Mac.
RCS is tied to phone number. True, it can send through Wi-Fi or cellular, but you need valid phone number.
I tested with Pixel 7 with no SIM inserted. RCS does not activate, there is no way to sent RCS message via gmail account. I also tested RCS with data only SIM card,RCS also does not activate.
iMessage does not require phone number to work, you just need Apple ID.
iMessage is basically Apple’s version of IM plus ability to switch to MSM or RCS if destination devices doesn’t support iMessage.
I sent a text message from my iPad to my father’s pixel mobile.
As the message was sent in green bubble this must be a network thing as I’m with EE in uk & I can even have WiFi calling on my iPad Pro. So it must be certain networks that allow you to send text messages with the iPad because I managed it.
I have been with other networks in uk & they don’t allow it.
EE smart number technology is for EE pay monthly mobile customers with Apple devices
only. Your primary device must be a currently-available iPhone model running iOS 11 or
later. Make and receive calls and send and receive texts in the UK using the single phone
number from this primary device on up to 5 different Apple devices. Primary device must be
switched on and with coverage to send or receive SMS. Compatible paired devices include
both WiFi-only and WiFi + Cellular Apple devices (e.g. Apple Watch and iPads with or
without SIMs), but exclude iPhones. All texts and calls from your paired devices will come
from your pay monthly allowance or, if out of allowance, be charged to your account as per
your primary device price plan and appear on bills as being made from your primary device.
Calls and texts to and from your primary device are visible on all paired devices. You can
switch the service on and off from the Settings icon on your primary device. It is your
responsibility to switch off EE smart number technology if you don’t want calls & texts to be
allowed from a paired device. We can change or withdraw the EE smart number technology
service with reasonable notice or immediately upon Apple discontinuing support for it.
completely disagreed on that subjective take.
many have encountered this one of many issues.
again, continuing to miss the point. it's not the care about colors, but the care of ease of use for a large customer base.
that's not what we're talking about.
thanks for proving you failed to understand what i'm talking about. amazing.
my brother in the contacts app contains his iMessage email and his android phone number. so - my *existing* iMessage thread with my brother is currently *only* reaching his iPad and not his android phone. there is no possible way his iPad can relay the message to his android phone via sms.
in order for me to send it to his android phone, I would either need to separate out his android number to a different contact entry *or* type in his name and make sure to tap on the disclosure to manually select his pixel phone since it defaults to the existing iMessage thread
the reason why the iMessage thread was created was because previous iOS versions defaulted to iMessage protocol over sms. so every time I attempt to send a message to my brother, it defaults to the existing iMessage thread when I type in his name in iMessage.
if you don't understand this, I cannot help you. this is as simple as I can make it.
but glad that this whole exchange proves it's way too confusing for you as I said already.
Last edited:
Not in my experience. If I text my sister's phone number, it goes to her phone. If I text her email it goes to her iPad. But it won't change beck unless I create a new text message with her number, then it will go back to defaulting to her phone. I believe it also keeps both threads merged in one thread. So if I go back to it without specifically texting her phone, it will go to her iPad. But the bubbles are different colors so it's easy to tell where it went. Would be nicer if android had a system where it would just send it to everything like apple does with iPhone/iPad/Mac all combined in iMessage, but such is the fractured android app ecosystem. Would be cool if apple made iMessage available to every device, but their business model isn't set up that way. I gotta say though, Apple's interoperability is pretty amazing. Being to seamlessly switch between any device, have it all together in one seamless thread, and be able to communicate with almost anyone in the world (within reason) is super convenient.
Fair enough since I disagree with yours.
I'm not convinced that those "issues" are of a concern to the majority of iPhone users.
And that user base is the majority of iPhone users that have no issues with iMessage.
That's part of the problem. There is no one standard Android system.
True, and Apple need not try to extend iMessage to Android with teh associated headaches. I suspect Google e. al. would not be happy to all of a sudden have all their traffic go through Apple's servers instead of theirs, either.
That's the advantage of a closed ecosystem. The manufacturer knows what each part has and can build systems that work well together becasue they are assured of a standard design that follows their specs.
Maybe it just me, i am sure some floks who switch devices frequently will find iMessage annoying. I am siwtching between iPhone and Adroid like quarterly basis. I cannnot stay in one ecosystem more than 3 months.
The first thing i do when switch back to iPhone is disable iMeesage. Nice to hear RCS is finally arriving at iPhone.
No priority ********, RCS works well across platform, and i will gladly use it.
F@@k walled garden.
The only advantage for closed ecosystem is to manufacture's advantage. Once you are in walled garden, they will maximise their profits from you.
Paired parts, no cross platform sync, overpriced products, outrageous price on parts etc,
So again f@@k walled garden. Bring on RCS, bring on third party app store, bring on right to repair.
Sent from Xiaomi Redmi K60
Last edited:
Apple interoperability is one of the biggest reasons why I use their products. It never ceases to amaze me how well it works and how few issues there are. Most of my text messages are sent from my iPad. If I add something to a note on any device, it instantly is on every device. I can send messages from my watch, whether it is on cellular or not. My primary Apple device is my iPad and my phone only gets any real use outside of my house because of this. Two years ago I was a lifelong Android user that reluctantly went to iPhone because I had always wanted to try one and decided to take the plunge. I could never go back to Android now because of how well all Apple devices work together. What they have done is simply amazing.
It depends on what kind of Android devices you are talking about. Google has its own ecosystem works well, all my notes, pictures, files etc are synced across all my devices, including iPhone.
Samsung also has its own ecosystem, which includes its phone, tablet, smart watch.
Android makers in China, such as Xiaomi or Haiwei integrate its own ecosystem between phone, tablet, TV, IoT things well. For example, with Huawei devices, you simple touch the Huawei phone and Huawei Computer , you gets apps minored to the computer, transfer file between computer, phone and tablet. If the phone and Huawei TV are in same network, you can wirelessly minoring contents in TV and you can even run apps such as Bilibili on the TV without downloading TV app.
But I hate walled garden, i rather take more complex route than being locked into one ecosystem. This is why I also don’t use iMessage and refuse to use iCloud to sync pictures.
1. Didn't say majority encounter the issues. Doesn't need the "majority" to make a large portion of the customer base having the problem.
2. It's a random guess that majority have no issues.
And it’s just a random guess thst more than an insignificant percentage have issues. It simply is not an issue Apple needs to address beyond rcs. I suspect even an sms fallback is good enough for most users.
nope. considering "significance" is subjective and the amount of people I've seen personally and online has met the threshold of what I'd consider significant. it's not "just a random guess"
you can disagree with that threshold and that's basically an agree-to-disagree argument. but you're constantly treating "majority" believes in XYZ when you don't have any data to support that. that's the "random guess".
disagreed
Actually, both of our data sets are small enough that neithe rof us have conclusive data. In my case, the amount of people I’ve seen with such an issue vs those without doesn’t meet a threshold of anything I’d consider significant; so yea, we’ll just have to agree to disagree about the extent of the problem.