this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
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Technology
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Okay I'm out of the loop, why is iMessage on Android such a big deal? I know that images get compressed but it sounds like Google and Apple are finally working together to draw up a spec there. Besides that it's... A color difference?
There's a massive cultural thing in the US about the iPhone being the preferred phone and if you don't have one it must be because you're too poor to afford one. Obviously this is a result of marketing and isn't universal but it is a surprisingly widely held view.
Given that, showing up in a group chat as a lone blue bubble marks you out as the inferior group member (in some people's eyes). It doesn't matter so much 1:1 but if there are 10 people the odd one out stands out.
Not really how it works though. If there are 74 iMessage users and 1 Android user, ALL chats become green. Ergo Android users are often simply omitted from chats.
This. I was the last member of my family on Android and made the fam text chain a mess to the point there was a separate one with everyone but me and I would have to look at it on my wife’s phone.
I finally got an iPhone partly because of this. Also because the mini is just a much better size than anything that was available android wise that I liked.
Your fam made the text chain a mess by using iMessage. They could use literally any other messenger without problems.
Oh for sure, but that is just how it goes. iMessage is just the default and slowly takes over.
The real issue here is that people in the US are tied to using SMS for real-time chat groups when so many better (and private, and well known) alternatives exist. Thankfully, in Europe, nobody so far as I know ever really uses SMS anymore – whether for single or group chats.
Not really a thing. Google is trying to make it seem like there is, but I’ve never met a single person that has ever cared.
Being able to use rich chat features.
Not at all. Apple was forced to support RCS by the digital markets act. While Google uses RCS, there's a ton of functionality they build on top of it. Apple will likely implement the absolute bare minimum that they're required to, which likely won't include E2EE.
I think this is the primary reason. Apple only announced working on RCS support very recently. Once that’s out, I don’t really see a place in the market for this.
And it isn’t just compressed images. MMS doesn’t support reactions, replies, typing indicators, or read receipts because it’s ancient. A proper, standardized replacement has been long overdue.
Granted, I’ve heard that RCS is currently heavily reliant on Google’s own servers, so it could be argued as to how “open” this really is.
RCS protocol is open. The apps... not so much.
I think the currently available apps not being free software is less important than the protocol being open, which is good. It allows for the possibility of FOSS clients in the future. My bigger concern at the moment is if most/all of the actual backend infrastructure is controlled by a single stakeholder.
It's not as big of a deal as people like to pretend it is
The messages app also supports forwarding text messages to other devices.
We can even ignore the other features of iMessage. This adds a layer of convenience to those who use both iOS and Android.
Eh still, Android offers this, Windows you can do this with an android or an iphone I think, not a game changer personally
Yes, but it works better for those whose main SIMs are on iPhones. I personally use BlueBubbles at the moment.