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jts1207

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 4, 2021
69
42
I see everyone on here praising iMessage. It seems like a regular messaging app to me. What am I missing.....longtime Android user
 
It is just preinstalled. So everyone with apple device have it and if not, it works as sms/mms app. In my country iPhone is very popular and family members who is not into tech have it.
 
iMessage is indeed just a regular messaging app, so it may come down to personal preferences and a few features. For me the biggest perk in comparison to other messsaging apps is that it is quite secure.

Unrelated to iMessaging, the fact that iOS messaging can be synced with your macbook is the biggest plus for using apple's messaging ecosystem for me. Two-Factor authorization for websites that send you an SMS with a code are automatically filled out on Mac/iPhone, which saves a bit of time and is a great feature that I use regularly.
 
Blue is my favorite color. What more reason do I need to use iMessage? :D I like the security it offers as well as the integration in the ecosystem. It works for me.

That’s right. I’m surprised nobody has brought up “blue message bubbles bullying “ - that came up a few times in the past.
 
That’s what makes it great. It’s simple with no gimmicks. It’s only really popular in the US tho; most here use WhatsApp.
 
Blue bubbles of course

But seriously just works so well with all your devices and for me more pleasing than normal messaging services. Nice to know I can get it all on my home phone, work phone, Apple Watch, mac, iPad and not miss anything
 
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It's laggy, slow and full of useless gimmicks, no one outside of US uses it.

Get outta here! Silly boy.

iMessage star features:-

* Carried on internet not the cellular network so no limit on message length or photo size/numbers
* Available on devices without cellular connectivity
* You can send videos
* You already pay for internet connection so it's free. How much are you paying per tiny compressed MMS?
* Syncs via iCloud (if set to) so all your messages available on all your Apple devices
* Backed up on iCloud (if set to) so all your message history instantly available on a new device. Can you imagine?
* Can send money through Apple Pay
* Messages are searchable
* Read receipts On/Off by individual contacts
* You get to say to people "If you had a decent phone I could send you <whatever>"

Probably I've only skimmed the surface. People who don't have iMessage are like people who don't have FaceTime, actually they're the same people. Out of the loop. Clueless. (this is where I run for cover)

I will concede that iMessage has some very silly and useless features, you can receive messages with animated balloons or fireworks on them, that sort of thing. Small price to pay.
 
Get outta here! Silly boy.

iMessage star features:-

* Carried on internet not the cellular network so no limit on message length or photo size/numbers
* Available on devices without cellular connectivity
* You can send videos
* You already pay for internet connection so it's free. How much are you paying per tiny compressed MMS?
* Syncs via iCloud (if set to) so all your messages available on all your Apple devices
* Backed up on iCloud (if set to) so all your message history instantly available on a new device. Can you imagine?
* Can send money through Apple Pay
* Messages are searchable
* Read receipts On/Off by individual contacts
* You get to say to people "If you had a decent phone I could send you <whatever>"

Probably I've only skimmed the surface. People who don't have iMessage are like people who don't have FaceTime, actually they're the same people. Out of the loop. Clueless. (this is where I run for cover)

I will concede that iMessage has some very silly and useless features, you can receive messages with animated balloons or fireworks on them, that sort of thing. Small price to pay.
All of these... and end-to-end encryption ... that's probably the biggie, IMO.
 
All of these... and end-to-end encryption ... that's probably the biggie, IMO.

I believe it will be once the iCloud backups cannot be extracted by anyone but to my knowledge Apple still holds the keys to those.
 
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Oh so you like to use Facebook for your private conversations? That's a hard pass for me.
Where did I say I use whatsapp/facebook? Most people in Europe use whatsapp that's just a fact, nothing to do with what I personally use or don't use.
 
It's laggy, slow and full of useless gimmicks, no one outside of US uses it.

Absolute rubbish.

I’m in the UK and everyone I know that has an iPhone uses it. It’s in the phone owners best interests to use it, such as for sending pics or videos. Send them without iMessage on and you’re getting charged!

As for it being laggy and slow, maybe for you but not here.
 
I see everyone on here praising iMessage. It seems like a regular messaging app to me. What am I missing.....longtime Android user
Works over WiFi. A phone number is unnecessary (you can use an email address), therefore having an active cell line is unnecessary.

iMessage goes through Apple's servers, so your cell carrier doesn't see the content of your messages. And because its Apple's servers, you don't get charged for international texts.

I have people I text with in the UK and elsewhere. They get charged (and I do too) if I send them an SMS. Which is why, when I switched to Android, I found a solution to continue using iMessage.
 
No.1 feature: extremely secure end to end encryption. The private decryption key is stored in hardware (within the Secure Enclave of your iPhone/IPad/Mac). Each one has its own key pair. If you own 3 devices you have 3 public keys on iCloud and when someone sends you an iMessage 3 separate messages are encrypted using your public key and then each one is sent to a specific device. Only the corresponding private key on that device can decrypt it. Usage of the private key in the Secure Enclave is limited to a few APIs so it can’t just be read. NO one else uses hardware private keys except the latest Pixel 5 titan key. And this has been available since iOS 5 (Now all of this is compromised by using iCloud synced iMessage so if you’re security conscious I recommend turning that off)
 
It's laggy, slow and full of useless gimmicks, no one outside of US uses it.
Hmmmm. AFAIK, as long as you’re connected to the internet, by default the messages app automatically sends an imessage if the receiver has an iphone, and sms if the receiver doesn’t. All my contacts with iPhones use imessage in Metromanila Philippines. For cross-platform web based messengers, the popular ones here are viber and fb messenger.
 
The big stroke of genius for iMessage from day one was the seamless integration into the messages app: the bubble turns blue for iMessage or stays green for non-iMessage. No separate buddy list, no separate app, no friend requests, no asking the recipient if they're "on iMessage". Just send the text like normal.
 
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