- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmit.online
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmit.online
Pressure grows on Apple to open up iMessage::Samsung has joined Google’s campaign to force Apple to make iMessage RCS-compatible—but European regulators are more likely to get that job done.
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The pressure doesn’t matter, apple makes a legitimate amount of money from people scared of being a different colored bubble. Unless someone actually writes it into law and makes a provision that all the bubbles must appear the same, nothing will change
This is weirdly only a thing in America. In Europe, where I live, iMessage isn’t that popular and iPhone users never seem to care about the bubble colour (likely because WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Element, and Threema are so popular, everyone is used to using multiple chat apps anyway).
Edit: Also I’m not sure why everyone is championing RCS - it’s yet another proprietary communication standard like iMessage and isn’t open thus can’t be easily implemented in other chat apps.
Rather then pressure Apple to support and further popularise another closed protocol, we should be pushing for something open like Matrix or Signal.
: Also I’m not sure why everyone is championing RCS - it’s yet another proprietary communication standard like iMessage and isn’t open thus can’t be easily implemented in other chat apps.
RCS is an implementation of GSMA Universal Profile and is interoperable with it
I don’t see any public license for GSMA Universal Profile and it seems you have to engage directly with GSMA to get any detail on the standard. Very much the opposite of things like Signal which not only are the standards public but so are the reference implementations.
I still don’t see an argument for why yet another proprietary standard and protocol is a good thing.
well RCS is to be the successor to SMS, which I believe was also introduced by GSMA
What you are using on Android isn’t RCS, it’s RCS+Google’s proprietary extension. There is no encryption in the spec, and the original implementation that went through carriers is ignored and it goes through Google. It’s essentially Google’s iMessage and they are trying to find their way into breaking Apple’s market share under false pretense.
I’ve just been reading the RCS Universal Profile Service Definition Document and it does stipulate encryption should be used but is hardly defined how encryption should be implemented nor does it set an interoperable standard for it. I like RCS even less now.
“Methods for encryption, client verification, user authentication and access authorisation are applied by the client and the network on a per interface and protocol basis.”
So basically RCS is happy for there to be interoperability with regards to encryption, almost forcing interoperable implementations to forgo encryption so that different implementations can communicate.
Signal protocol is far far far better a standard than this lazy “service definition”.
Yea, the standard is great for a decade+ ago when it came out, but I’d never trust it as is over other things like Signal or even iMessage. Google’s RCS implementation is as trustworthy as anything else Google makes. They don’t even support it across all their products last I heard. It’s a joke.
I know, but isn’t the point that Google Messages is interoperable with other implementations such as T-Mobile’s or Verizon’s?
That may be the point, but it’s not working out that way. The spec is older than iMessage. It failed. Google just took it and made their own implementation. I’m not sure if Google’s RCS works with Verizon’s for example, I’m sure basic things do. AFAIK third party developers can’t implement it in their apps, so you have to have an Android phone to use it. Someone correct me if I’m wrong. The entire thing relies on Google to keep it running.
RCS is still IP based so why SMS should be replaced with RCS over Signal still isn’t clear. RCS and Signal are both IP based protocols yet one is proprietary and the other is libre. If we’re getting rid of SMS, we should be replacing it with something anyone can implement without any concerns for licensing or the standard being controlled by a single entity (which Google seems to be positioning themselves to be).
It is controlled and monetizable by the telcos. It isn’t better. And it’s barely standardized. Google sells a service to telcos to implement RCS that doesn’t really work well with anyone else’s RCS, or didn’t.
Go look at the amount of threads with people saying “my RCS message from my Samsung didn’t get to my friend on T-Mobile with a pixel”.
This is not the future anyone deserves.
I have never heard of anyone in the U.S. who cares about the bubble color either. The only reason I ever cared was that it used to mean there was a good chance it wouldn’t get through if it was a green bubble, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. I’ve gotten iPhone-to-iPhone green bubbles when there’s been some sort of communication difficulty to Apple’s servers and it had to go straight SMS.
Are you dating or in school at the moment? I if not, it might be that you’re just oblivious to this trend, because it is definitely a thing in many social circles.
Maybe for people much younger than me. But certainly I’ve never heard of such a thing in the many years I’ve had iPhones (started with the 3).
It’s not simply an age thing. I’m in my 40s and have definitely witnessed the judgment in the dating scene.
Ok, fair, I’ve been married for over two decades. I don’t get why anyone would care though.
It’s not that difficult to understand. An iPhone is a symbol of affluence, and that aspect is important to many people who are looking for a mate.
Edited to add: And as dating has shifted to being mostly online, the first real connection you have with a potential mate outside of the apps is via text.
I have to say that in Denmark at least, iMessage seems to thrive quite well. There are quite a lot using Facebook messenger, but SMS and iMessage is a close second. This is entirely from my point of view. Never met anyone using the examples you mention, unless they are communicating with foreigners on a daily basis.
In finland everyone I know uses WhatsApp, and my friend circle and family also use Signal. So, eh.
Also I’m not sure why everyone is championing RCS - it’s yet another proprietary communication standard like iMessage and isn’t open thus can’t be easily implemented in other chat apps.
My guy, this entire article is about Google and Samsung trying to convince Apple to adopt RCS.
Is a completely open standard better? Yeah, absolutely.
Would RCS basically create unified rich communication for virtually everyone? Also yes.
RCS isn’t open at all in practice and anyone who wants to put the carriers (or more likely Google) in control of messaging is a moron.
Nobody wants to do that, except that the alternative is SMS, which is much much worse.
It is proprietary but at least it will interoperable with other phones and carriers.
Also yesterday, Reuters reported that the European Commission has begun trying to establish whether iMessage should be brought under the remit of the EU’s new antitrust law, the Digital Markets Act, which imposes interoperability requirements (among other things) on so-called gatekeeper services that are part of many people’s daily lives.
Apple’s iOS operating system, App Store, and Safari browser already fall under the DMA, which is likely to force Apple to allow third-party app stores on iPhones and iPads, but Apple so far managed to lobby the Commission into leaving iMessage out of it. If the Commission decides after its investigation that iMessage is worth regulating in this way, Apple would have until August next year to introduce some form of interoperability—presumably with RCS.
Two related issues are being confused/conflated here.
The first is the American cultural significance of the green and blue bubbles. This is the thing that Europeans generally don’t care about as most are using WhatsApp et. al.
The second is the lack of interoperability between chat protocols such that it degrades the experience for everyone. This is what the EU is targeting.
I don’t think the colours of chat bubbles for specific devices as displayed by other specific devices falls under that remit. The implementor must comply with providing the same service level though. Whether or not this will lead to less cultural significance for bubble hues in the US remains to be seen.
It won’t be with RCS. The “gatekeeper” criteria applies to interoperation between dominant technologies. RCS has very small adoption in Europe. If iMessage will make the cut it will have to integrate with Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and Signal.
Edit: I should clarify, there’s RCS the standard and there’s Google’s implementation. Google’s RCS is too small to be considered for itntegration. The standard on the other hand would be nice, in an ideal world; however, merging proprietary networks into an open standard is a very high goal and goes beyond what the EU wants to attempt at this time. Instead it will let the tech owners achieve interoperability in any way they want and can.
I don’t get why more people don’t understand this. There is literally no way Apple is going to ditch iMessage or open it up voluntarily.
Cue the EU.
They already got Apple on USB-C, repairability and RCS are next.
There’s a difference between USB and RCS though. With RCS the standard was stillborn and the only surviving implementation is alive because it’s Google-controlled and represents their Nth attempt at a message platform. I don’t want to see something controlled by Google become a standard of communication. We’ve already seen what happens to such de facto standards, they have very bad aspects.
The EU will not mandate RCS, just like they did not mandate USB explicitly.
They will only mandate standardization, which will force Apple, Google and Meta (as owner of WhatsApp) to agree on a standard and then enforce that standard.
RCS is just the most likely outcome.
Maybe. Google certainly has a vested interest in RCS — but the others don’t. RCS is a large standard which goes beyond interconnecting networks. They can just as well design something smaller that only achieves the minimum necessary.
You have to keep in mind that these companies don’t want this. If they can waste time designing a new standard, they will. They are also not looking to re-implement their entire networks, they most certainly don’t want to “open them up”, they just want to comply with the letter of the law with as little change as possible.
Also keep in mind that RCS has glaring faults, such as the lack of encryption.
My guess is that they’re going to try to agree on a common message format, common API and common encryption protocol and leave it at that. There are already plenty of standards out there that cover these needs.
Perhaps. I am unfamiliar with merits of RCS versus alternatives.
Howsver, any solution that enables extra proprietary functionality outside of the standard would be non-compliant, so I don’t think they will be able to get a half-baked solution through.
Also, the EU has zero interest to play softball with these companies. If they can punish them with a billion euro fine for not complying, they definitely will.
any solution that enables extra proprietary functionality outside of the standard would be non-compliant, so I don’t think they will be able to get a half-baked solution through.
Again, there is no particular standard being mandated for this. The EU just wants interoperability – being able to communicate to a person using iMessage on their phone from your phone using Whatsapp for example. How the providers accomplish it is their business. The only pressure will be to not degrade the user’s experience to the point the interop becomes a liability rather than a boon.
the EU has zero interest to play softball with these companies. If they can punish them with a billion euro fine for not complying, they definitely will.
OK but they cannot simply slap fines on them and call it a day. If the companies say “what you’re asking for is too difficult” they will need to take the time to examine this claim. In fact I can guarantee right now that we’ll see the deadline extended at least once.
They’ll find some way to make it cumbersome and difficult to use so that no one bothers.
I’m sure their shareholders will appreciate getting billion euro fines.
/s
At best they will keep it out of the US market, until US regulators get up to speed.
iMessage isn’t anywhere near as popular in the EU as it is in the US, so it’s just not as big of a problem for them to target and apple is doing a good job lobbying them not to
I’m pretty confident the blue and green colors have nothing to do with it. It’s simply the difficulties of using sms (or at least how Apple implements sms). iMessage allows much higher quality videos/images to be sent and enables group chats to be dynamic where people can be added and removed at will. On iOS sms group chats have to be made with every member in it at creation, if you want to add another person or remove a person then you have to make a whole new group chat. Compound this with iPhone dominance in North America it often presents an annoyance where the single android user forces all the iPhone users to use sms and all the difficulties/reduced features it comes with.
WhatsApp, Telegram, and whatever chat app isn’t used in NA because it’s just harder to convince someone to download and make an account. Why should a user download another chat app? Why isn’t iMessage (sms) app good enough? Usually I’ve seen people just use instagram to chat with android users because sms is just so bad (at least on iOS, I’ve heard some things about how android works around the limitations).
Yes Apple could implement better sms features but they won’t.
So don’t just parrot “it’s because of the colors” it’s most likely due to users association with past experiences of “green chat bubbles”.
Apple is still to blame here but it’s not because users are scared. Most iPhone users or phone users in general just want it to work and never think about what features they’re missing. Asking/convincing someone to download yet another app and set up yet another account to yet again be spammed by emails, texts, phone calls is just too much for a majority of people who are used to the simplicity of iMessage. It comes with your phone, you make a single Apple account, and it just works™.
I’m pretty confident the blue and green colors have nothing to do with it.
You’d be surprised. A lot of girls won’t date someone if they don’t have the right colored chat bubbles.
I agree.
Apple has nothing to do with the SMS junk other than allowing that junk to work because it is legacy.
My issue with RCS is its only open to other device makers, like you can’t make RCS apps cause you need a special license. Its a closed system that on android will likely always depend on google
The idea of making Apple use it is also part of Google giving the operations to carriers, just like SMS, and then gradually replacing SMS altogether. Google isn’t even supposed to be running the RCS servers. But they did it in order to get the standard up and running everywhere. It’s an open standard, and multiple carriers in several countries are on their way to carrying the burden of the servers, the way the standard is supposed to operate. Once it’s operating, all servers can talk to each other, just like you can SMS a person on another carrier line. RCS will allow universal rich texting.
Surely XMPP and other standards are different and I would prefer any other than something championed by Google. But the truth is, that the other standards aren’t invited to sit at the right tables and don’t offer the same “replace SMS once and for all” potential the way RCS does. XMPP for example is super expensive to escalate and like almost all of the traffic is just presence messaging, which is super wasteful and energy intensive on servers. RCS is not the best, but it’s one that all carriers and telecommunications agencies are on board for replacing the archaic SMS. And it doesn’t preclude using other protocols. Like, WhatsApp, Signal, Matrix and Telegram will still continue to exist.
It requires provisioning by your mobile carrier. iMessage doesn’t.
Anyone advocating for something that isn’t OTT has been living under a rock.
And here is the part that no one seems to understand.
Apple forced the carriers to allow iMessage because they were in a power position to do so.
Meanwhile, GSMA has been fucking around since 2008, because no one could agree to anything.
Management by committee or take control and make it happen.
RCS and GSMA will not prevail.
2008 !
So does your data service. You have to pay the carrier to have Internet in the cellular network. Do you think that iMessage work with faeries carrying the messages around?
Truly the only reason RCS is pushed by the carriers is because of RBM, to monetize business to client communication. But it’s no better nor worse than WhatsApp for businesses.
Works over any internet eg wifi. You don’t need to have a subscription to anything at all to use iMessage.
And RCS works when you don’t have internet. What part of everything has pros and cons and it doesn’t make alternatives go away you don’t understand? what’s this need to simp for Apple? I don’t give a fuck about Apple, I just want the modernization of SMS.
Or SMS should just die….
And how does RCS work without internet? It doesn’t work without connectivity to the cellular IMS. RCS only works on 4G and 5G. It doesn’t work on 2G/3G service which in the US is being phased out, but still exists in lots of places.
I’m not so sure about the special license thing. The limit on 3rd party apps is because there isn’t an API in Android that exposes RCS to users, only OEMs (which is how Samsung can do it). If Google flipped that switch and made the API public, 3rd party apps would be able to use it just as easily as they do SMS without paying extra or obtaining a license. It’s an open standard.
Only Google knows why they haven’t done this already.
Because RCS is provisioned by the telcos and the telcos won’t let them.
Want end to end encryption, have to use Google Messages, not Samsung Messages, both RCS. How’s that for interop?
RCS is a mess and not the savior.
Also, encryption is a mixed bag depending upon the client, and you need a phone number. Using iMessage with an email address is quite nice.
I remember Steve Jobs stating on stage that the protocol will be opened up when iMessage was revealed. Apparently this statement surprised the developers of it, because they didn’t know anything about that (based on some rumors).
Then that statement was silently ignored.
It was FaceTime, not iMessage. The reason the developers were surprised was that they didn’t own the tech, and Apple lost a patent lawsuit about it and almost had to remove FaceTime entirely. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20236114 https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/apple-s-facetime-open-standard-never-happened
Oh you’re right, I misremembered.
But first you remembered.
This is where the EU could really make it a reality.
…or even better: end iMsg
IMessage isn’t really used in Europe, so it doesn’t get covered by the DMA-DSA-Duo sadly
Sure it does. It’s the interoperability of all of them from iMessage to Whatsapp, signal, Google message, etc.
I read the legislation. What’s your point with URL?
i read the Legislation as well. Only Gatekeepers need to open up. The EU hasn’t designated IMessage as a Gatekeeper yet.
The URL is the official EU Announcement to the designation of the Gatekeepers. Check it out. IMessage isn’t on it.
I don’t think Europeans even use it
Yep, EU is whatsapp territory. Nobody cares about Apple software.
India is WhatsApp territory, EU uses multiple media
“Lol, no.” -Tim Cook, probably.
“Hell yes” - the EU, definitely
“Too bad” -the EU, as well
I have zero interest in using any Apple service. I’ve never needed to, and I never will.
They can keep their imessage thing, I hadn’t even heard of it until just now. I’m good.
It’s incompatible with Android on purpose. They want their users shaming non apple users in to getting an iPhone.
Well it kinda works in a weird way
I saw it work in high school, but I haven’t seen adults care much. As an android user, there are times I wish I had iMessage, but I’ve never had anyone bother me about it.
It is not just high school students that care about pureblood iMessage group chats. Also dip shit wife beaters: https://news.yahoo.com/nba-head-coach-punished-team-161451722.html
Yeah, there’s always shitty adults. I typically try to avoid them
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Surely that’s a people problem, not a technical one?
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They aren’t going to budge, at least not willingly.
a la USB-C
Nobody I know uses iMessage (or RCS for that matter) here in Germany. Most people use WhatsApp.
I think this is an American problem
Not nobody, it’s number three after WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger (both owned by Meta).
So yeah, the EU is definitely focusing on Meta, but iMessage, Signal and RCS (Google) are large enough to all be in scope of the regulation.
I don’t know if things like Snapchat are also in scope.
Edit: got corrected below. WhatsApp and Messenger are in scope, iMessage is being reviewed.
the EU is definitely focusing on Meta, but iMessage, Signal and RCS (Google) are large enough to all be in scope of the regulation.
Signal and RCS are not in scope. You can see the targeted services here, for communication it’s currently just WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. iMessage is being discussed but that’s it. Signal and RCS don’t have a large enough share, Signal is tiny and RCS is not even a blip on the radar. If anything it’s going to be Viber and Telegram next. Viber has a 25x larger userbase than Signal, Telegram about 10x, and WhatsApp is about 75x. Here’s a chart to give you some idea.
Thanks, that clarifies it!
Funnily enough, here in Scandinavia next to nobody uses WhatsApp, we pretty much exclusively use sms/RCS/iMessage and Snapchat. Sometimes Messanger. Weird how different it is
I don’t get why people like RCS in this context. It has the same problem as iMessage.
On Android you have to use Google Messages to get it. Third party apps don’t work with it because Google never opened it up to them. How common is RCS without Google Messages? Even on Samsung phones it goes via Google.
How common is iMessage without an Apple product?
Why does Google want them to use iMessage? Probably since the data would flow through them.
Same shiz, different company.
RCS is just a standard, much like how SMS is just a standard. Google’s Messaging app is just one implementation of it, though it probably is the most popular in the US it is not the only one, nor is Google able to decide who cannot use it. Carriers typically have their own, though you may have recently heard that T-Mobile decided to switch over to Google’s.
As someone else said RCS is just the new global standard replacing SMS that apple does not want to support because it weakens their walled garden.
RCS is an open standard created by GSMA, not a Google product. Google and Samsung just have the most popular “flavours” of RCS
It works on Textra just fine
Wait, since when does Textra have RCS support?
Beats me someone liked a text I sent them a few days ago and I realized I could give their’s emoji responses too.
That does not mean that Textra supports RCS at all. It does not. It just supports text reactions with other Textra users.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/vpt6uq/textra_updated_to_send_reactions_like_ios/iensamw/
The other user isn’t using Textra though which is why I thought it was rcs.
Samsung Messages supports RCS if carrier enables it: https://www.androidcentral.com/how-set-rcs-chat-samsung-phones
That’s why Apple has been cagey about the whole thing. It’s Google’s tech. Their patents. Their way. Of course they are going to weaponize it because that’s where we are with software these days.
The answer isn’t RCS and Apple knows it. It’s trading iMessage for a merger with gMessage, a hybrid of the two with Apple losing half of its control. For a pretty meek gain.
The answer is to come up with an open standard that all messaging apps adopt and build on. So we can eventually move away from shitty SMS. Neither Google, or Apple should control the framework.
Because most people don’t really understand the specifics of what they are railing against and/or arguing for. They just read “big bad Apple is being eViL” and get on the complaint train without really understanding what they are advocating for.
In my opinion Google should really being trying to push Chat as the default for Android instead. It is no more walled off than Googles RCS implementation, and unlike RCS they don’t need Apple to bake it into their messaging app to attract users.
The fact that they care more about their RCS implementation for this purpose instead of Chat or just the basic RCS protocol as the standard tells me Google is more interested in the easy road to being the technical foundation of texting for reasons other than the universal convince of customers or the proliferation of standards.
In reality they probably want this so bad because if they were to get it it would make it effectively impossible for the average person to avoid Google services on some level, which is good for their data mining empire.
You used a lot of words, just too say that you don’t know what you are talking about.
Well then go on, why am I wrong? Or do you just not like my opinion and are grasping at straws to make youself feel better?
RCS is an open standard created by GSMA. That’s why you’re wrong.
Googles implementation of the RCS standard has extra things not included in the base standard. The encryption for example is something Google added that is not part of the standard.
Additionally, Google does not allow any other implementation of RCS to talk to their jibe servers to pass messages without them explicitly approving it.
So what Google has functionally created is a proprietary messaging service built on top of an open standard. This is what most people miss about all of the coverage of Google pushing for RCS.
I didn’t know that Google built encryption on top of the standard, I thought it was part of it.
Besides that though, Google would be making the dumbest business move if they didn’t let Apple’s potential RCS implementation talk to theirs.
Besides that, the point that RCS is still an open standard stands and should replace SMS just because of how archaic and old it is. Heck, there’s still a character limit.
What happended with forcing interoperability with different services like WhatsApp and Messenger? Would be great if we could just have one app for all messages like on Windows Phone back in the day 🙏
Matrix has good interop, you can use it.
I’ve looked into using Matrix bridge to be able to communicate with iMessage groups from Android. There’s a repo / company called Beeper that seems to maintain some bridges.
But tbh haven’t spent enough time with it. Looks like a lot of setup and maintenance. Would LOVE to be able to talk to iMessage from android
I use Beeper. There is a bit of a setup process adding the different chat networks but there’s next to no maintenance in my experience. It pretty much just works.
the downside is that it decrypts your messages on their server before sending them in either direction. so even if you use an e2e encrypted messenger like Whatsapp or Signal with it, Beeper could still read your messages.
I miss the old days of Trillian, a single pane of glass UI for all the major IM networks, cross-service meta contacts, and the messaage history was kept client side.
People keep getting messages the app and iMessage the protocol confused. While never written that way (as far as naming goes), I’ve seen nothing to indicate that the EU isn’t just saying that Messages the app doesn’t just need hooks to allow third party apps to integrate into the one interface. It’s about adding more bubble colors as it were. So stuff like WhatsApp would just pop up in the same feed over whatever protocol it uses.
As OP said, Apple can open up the iMessage protocol and still mark the non-iMessage mesagges inside their app as they used to. Apple didn’t create the green/bubble class divide, but they sure are enjoying the ride and can claim they’re innocent (since it’s technically the users, not the company discriminating).
Anyways, I’m all for open protocols and cross-platform compatibility. If some iUsers decide to ghost me because my Signal message appears in a different color, then screw them. Can I make them purple or orange?
But that would still be easier to convince someone to sign up for Signal or whatever other app if it came in a unified inbox. I just started using Beeper a couple of months ago, because while the security concerns are valid, it is really damn convenient.
Oh agreed. I think (if I’m right, I’m not a lawyer just a programmer who reads all this from a highly Apple centric technical background) it would make for a much improved messaging experience. Like this with RCS, I don’t care if Apple implements it themselves. I do think the carriers apps should though and those messages should just show up like any others in Messages. Same with say WhatsApp providing its messages. Ideally they’d handle their own encryption/keys/requirements basically externally to Messages itself, like many of the other apps that provide system wide extensions do.
Anyway here’s hoping 🤷♂️
I would love if they would just roll out an iMessage app to android. Ideally free.
I could realistically see them roll out an apple subscription pack to android eventually. Give users a way to access Apple Music, Fitness, etc. May even allow android users make use of Apple Watch.
I’m not an Apple fan boy, but this seems like a decent compromise from a business perspective. This meets a need and I don’t think there’s a decent enough argument that it would cannibalize iPhone sales (flagship models anyway)
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Signal or at least Telegram or Viber. Fuck WhatsApp, I’d like at least my messenger app to not belong to Facebook of all companies.
Whatsapp is actually better than Telegram lol. You fell for Telegrams marketing lol
At least Telegram doesn’t show your fucking phone number
They can literally read your messages by default lol
For now. Facebook has said that they plan to disable end-to-end encryption in WhatsApp at some point, so that you can receive messages from people using Facebook Messenger.
This gets even better: WA listened to Putin and did not enable channels because it is popular among 40+ and teachers.
Any FSB agent can connect any whatsapp message to person who wrote it.
That’s just plain wrong.
Whatsapp is using the Signal Protocol.
To read your messages they need to get your phone. And now even your Backups are encrypted, so they can’t read your Messages from there.
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they still collect the messages’ metadata and create a profile based on that.
Do you use E2EE for all your chats? I think nearly nobody does.
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I tried to use it a few months ago. It would not let me use it unless I gave it access to all my contacts’ information. I denied the permission request and it wouldn’t work.
How in the hell are you okay with that?
I’m pretty sure the stock SMS app that comes with your phone also needs access to the contacts permissions, but is enabled by default, so the app doesn’t even ask for it.
So in addition to that, why give the information to Facebook too?
Remember, Zuckerberg thinks people are dumbfucks for giving information to him.
Why do they go out of their way to disable the app if I deny access to contacts? Surely it would be less work to just add a couple of warnings telling me it may not work properly. But to disable the whole app? That is absolutely ridiculous.
How do you think phone number based chat apps works bro?
Give me the option to add contacts individually?
That app is cancer, better just to nope out of the installation.
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Because that’s how -phones- Whatsapp works,
Yeah, that is also how computer viruses work. I was very thankful for permission control. That app is cancer.
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If it’s so benign, why make it necessary to give all the information about all your contacts to the app?
To paraphrase Zuckerberg, “people are dumbfucks for giving me so much information.”
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And all thieves pay close attention to laws, and make sure their apps have “nothing” hidden in the folds.
That would make the problem worse, it would be just another centralized chat app you need to install. We would get from “what about people not using iOS” to “what about people not using iOS or Google Android”.
You can use Apple Music and an Apple Watch from android.
You can’t use an Apple watch on Android because it requires the Apple watch app to sync with the phone and that won’t work on Android.
Yes because iPhones have ✨magic chips✨ inside which only Apple has… I’m pretty sure the apple watch communicates with Bluetooth. Apple just deliberately shuts Android out.
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Apple originally looked into it but decided not to because they wanted to maintain their ecosystem. Same story as usual.
I have no idea why the above guy seems to think that Apple watches work on androids
It doesn’t work on Android, I know that. But I’ll bet you 1000€ that Apple could enabled cross-platform compatibility with an OTA update.
That’s pretty stupid. I doubt many Android users would switch to Iphone you for a smartwatch, but a few would absolutely buy apple watches if they could.
I guess the point is that they don’t want iphone users to switch to android since that would make their watch practically useless.
I ain’t paying a one time or subscription to get fucking blue or green bubbles. Hell with that.
I don’t think that works, since why would people want yet another chat app to deal with. I tried several but usually gave them up because iMessage does what I need it to and I don’t want to check many
Having everyone support RCS, as an update from SMS, gives that interoperability, along with improving the SMS experience
I was a huge fan of what Pigeon tried to do, but I’m Apple-centric these days and have no idea what the state of that is
FaceTime would be nice to have on Android as well, I know it technically works via a browser, if you get an invite from an iPhone user, but it’s such a bad experience for everyone. And I’m sure they do that because it’s easy peer pressure “advertising” from Apple users who want to video call with Android users, but can’t be bothered to put any work into using a compatible app, and instead blame Android users for the incompatibility.
You can do apple music on android
Apple Music on android is shit
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People actually use that? Everybody I know is using whatsapp and/or signal. Nobody bothers about proprietary crap.
What is your demo? In my world it’s quite different. Isn’t Whatsapp proprietary? And I know few that will bother with signal these days. I’ve started getting obvious spam invites on it as well so…
RCS should just be the standard. There is no reason to argue that… it doesn’t end the apps you use but many of us are tired of multiple apps.
Is RCS encrypted? I still prefer signal above everything else. Whatsapp seems to be passable privacy wise, but it’s Facebook so I don’t trust it one bit.
One way or another, Whatsapp is the standard around the world and it for sure beats SMS.
Whatsapp is using the signal protocol, which is open. So the app itself might be proprietary, but not the implementation.
They’re still all disconnected.
It kills me that after going through the old messaging apps days (ICQ, AIM, MSN, etc), then a small window of hope with XMPP we’re back to disconnected messaging apps on mobile.
Even worse: SMS is distributed. I can send an SMS to anyone in the world, even if they use an old Nokia phone on 2G with a mobile carrier I’ve never heard of. But instead of using its modern version, RCS, people are happy to hop from a proprietary service to another.
I feel you. My Nokia N900 and later N9 were great solutions. All my sms, aim, icq, msn etc was all seamless along with instant load time. Then came things like line, FB messenger, Whatsapp. It was just how to have everything in one place.
RCS is probably the best option at this point if Imessage could use it. Then i wouldn’t need other apps for those friends to get decent quality.
Sad to learn signal wasn’t the standalone service I thought it was. I might sound old but really don’t care about sticker packs. I do care about quality shares without another app.
Yeah fuck apple but seriously, RCS is fucking stupid. We have so many nice open protocols and RCS is the best we can get?
Never looked into it, what’s so bad about RCS besides it being proprietary? Way better than SMS in my experience.
Being proprietary
Everything is better than SMS.
And everything except SMS is better than RCS.Let me use a fucking messaging app, I’ll just need any internet connection and it will works and it get constantly updated.
RCS is just SMS2
Then everyone needs to download and make an account on said app, they already exist and none are unanimous.
Everyone has a phone number that gets used for auth and other things. If that system doesn’t change then RCS is way better.
There is exactly one app that can use rcs. No better than apple
Confidently incorrect but ok.
The whole point of RCS is that it’s a protocol so there demonstrably would be other apps. It’s like saying there’s only one app for SMS, it isn’t true.
What non Google sms app that has implemented RCS?
RCS seems to be pretty openly licensed out to other OEMs, definitely a lot better than iMessage.
It’s still proprietary though, a far cry from something like Matrix.
