this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2024
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To be honest I don't know anyone in Europe using iMessages. We are using Viber, WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal, Telegram, Threema, etc. and none of those options are iOS or Android exclusive.
iMessage is a typical American thing which, we Europeans, have a really hard time comprehending what is the obsession with it.
And we also have a much bigger Android market share, so it would be stupid for iOS users to use some messaging app, that would be iOS exclusive.
To help you comprehend - the big difference is SMS has been free for a long long time in the USA. No other text messaging service has ever been able to get off the ground because why on earth would anyone sign up for Viber / WatsApp / Messenger / Signal / Telegram / Threema / etc, when you could just use SMS which works fine and works for everyone?
Then iMessage came along, and you could keep using "SMS", only now it's more reliable, has high resolution photos, delivery confirmation, etc. That was a real improvement over SMS, with no cost at all other than having to stay on the iPhone platform, which you were already on, and who's going to switch? You've got all these apps you found/like and who knows which ones work on Android?
Also, it's not just the USA. iMessage is big in other markets too. Also ones where SMS has historically been free. The cost of having to pay to send SMS between London/Paris is a pain we never really experienced here, so there was no motivation to try WhatsApp/etc.
Woah. What a great explanation. I legitimately never understood the deal with iMessage too and you made a logical explanation that clicks. Thank you.
The US can’t even stop robocalls
I think it's some kind of flex they like about blue or green bubbles. Somehow they are just behind on tech in the common man's world. I remember when the world was on smartphon/cool gadgety phones pre first iphone, I was in America and most people still used black and white simple phones. They thought it was cool if some phone model had a few extra ringtones...
The US never moved past SMS for instant messaging. iMessage extends SMS seamlessly (to iOS users).
Honestly i tried using different apps with different people groups and ended up dumping all of those apps over time since they 1) sucked battery and 2) weren’t that great and 3) were either ad-supported or were free with questions on what they company was doing to stay afloat.
iMessage solves all of these issues without needing to explain anything. Occasionally i will laugh when i see granny (liked this message) knowing she uses android and had to type that out but whatever.
Actually, that's just another example of Apple's shittiness. When you see that, that's not someone typing it out, that's when an Android user uses a reaction on our side.
Which should speak volumes to you, iOS was perfectly capable of understanding what an Android phone sent, but instead of simply matching it to an applicable iOS reaction (Or even just defaulting to a thumbs up or whatever), it just...does that.
The funny part is that on the Android side when an iOS/iMessage user a reaction it does exactly what you'd expect, it matches it to the applicable Android reaction lmao
No sometimes it’s misspelled.
So it's a granny problem, not an OS problem
here in the US in my situation it boils down to my parents/grandparents not being able to understand the difference between any texting application. I'm fine using SMS/iMessage because I know everyone has it. I'd say the vast majority of non-technologically savvy people I know are incapable or unsure how to use the basic functions of their phone (very few people I know in this category use their phone for anything else but calls, texts, and the web browser; everything else is just unused for either lack of understanding or lack of interest).