RCS is meant to replace sms/mms as the default messaging protocol, while sms/mms become the fallback for when RCS is not available. It entirely solves/circumvents the issue. You clearly know im not confusing mms for rcs. Everyone uses sms/mms as fallback including everyone who use iMessage unless you never message anyone outside the Apple ecosystem and even then there have been times when iMessage is not responsive and falls back on sms/mms.
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Apple to Adopt RCS Messaging Standard for Better Interoperability With Android Devices
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except not all android users have upgraded to rcs and this will be the case for years to come. and flip phones are still widely used in Japan.
mms users will still be part of the group and the massive flaw still exists.
and when you fallback to mms, the flaw exists. so how does it entirely solve the issue when the fallback won't let you do said feature.
That's fine as long as it will only use RCS if there is E2EE or if there is an option to only allow E2EE RCS, or worst case just turn RCS off.
I trust carriers slightly more than whatever company decides to run their own RCS service for their users mostly because telecom providers have much stricter regulations to adhere to.
I trust carriers slightly more than whatever company decides to run their own RCS service for their users mostly because telecom providers have much stricter regulations to adhere to.
I don‘t even get why this is being argued and why Apple is being blamed. The same issue exists on Android (MMS bricking group chat fun).
Apple did quite a few under the hood upgrades for iOS users in MMS chats with iOS 17, that tap into iMessage functionality:
- sending high quality media to iMessage capable group participants (the remaining ones get crap MMS)
- being able to edit texts for iMessage users
- allowing threaded responses for iMessage users
It‘s clear that Apple has been putting thought into how to enhance the experiencd, and these upgrades could be an indicator of how RCS will work eventually (hybrid chats).
Yes, Apple is bad for not doing these things sooner, no they can‘t improve this any further with the archaic MMS technology still being dragged around everywhere.
Well of course there are going to be some growing pains and stragglers. That's just a part of progress. The year the automobile was invented, every single person didn't go out and buy one. All the problems that iMessage has with group chats and SMS/MMS are not going to be solved overnight, but adopting RCS is a step forward. That's all progress is. A series of forward steps.
exactly, so I don't see how op can say it entirely solves the problem
and until that that progress is finished, the flaw exists, proving my point earlier.
It doesn't matter if not all android users have upgraded, it is what is going on now. People are migrating and all new phones being sold since 2019 from major carriers and phone manufacturing were starting to default to Google and Google has made so anyone can use RCS by downloading the message app.
Just so we are on the same page, i use iPhone and several times a week, Apple deprecates my iMessage to SMS even when im texting someone on iMessage, mid conversation it switches back and forth. All these but Google sucks and RCS doesn't work is nonsense. iMessage doesn't work properly.
That's right, there is a green bubble issue within Apple's own ecosystem. No Android involved.
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Well yeah. I guess if your point is that this isn't going to be a magic finger snap that instantly makes everything perfect...then yes, you're correct.
It doesn‘t it just levels the playing field. Google adopted the new standard „RCS“, Apple refused to causing all of their users to fallback to MMS when contacting Android users.
Now they add support for RCS, which instantly enables them to have modern texting with close to a billion devices out there capable of using RCS.
It‘s a mere get with the times situation, which will only accelerate the death of MMS.
You're so focused on trying to come up with reasons why I'm wrong that you're missing the forest for the trees. I (a single software developer) spent a whopping 5 minutes thinking about this problem to come up with a fairly reasonable hypothetical solution that would solve the vast majority of complaints that people have with MMS group chats within Apple Messages. TimFL1 just posted that Apple did indeed implement at least 1 of the things I hypothetically suggested: Send high quality media to iMessage capable user, the rest get crap. Nothing about the situation has fundamentally changed recently that makes that possible. It has been possible for many, many years. Apple simply CHOSE not to do them. With their army of developers, they likely could have long ago alleviated most or all the problems with messaging when non-iMessage users are part of the chat. Claiming that Apple has played no part in the current messaging mess and that it's entirely the rest of the world's fault is equivalent to sticking your fingers in your ears and singing la la la, because you don't want to acknowledge the facts.
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I think its a case of people getting wrapped up with being in an ecosystem that they can't possibly fathom that the company has a vested interest in sometimes making the experience worse so you don't leave their ecosystem. Like this whole green bubble thing, iMessage deprecates messages to sms all the time but people just assume it only happens with Android phones. Apple could make the messaging experience so much better but they chose not to all these years until they were forced to.
AFAIK, the reason the rest of the world uses something else is that their carriers charge for messages (USA quit in what 2010?). How WhatsApp beat out all the others is down to the network effet.
TIL : it only matters for group chats where people are sending things other than just words.
It only really matters if you're using fancy features vs just words and some pictures you don't care about the resolution
of.
Google and Samsung ads talked about the green bubble in their ads. Definitely they cared
Domestic SMS are mostly free now, but in Europe at least, you still have to pay for cross country SMS. That alone disqualifies SMS because of extremely high costs. I pay 39 Eurocents per Message.
As much as I don't like Facebook/Meta, WhatsApp just works, everyone has it, and you don't have to obsess over blue or green bubbles.
They don‘t care about the color. They care about the stigma cause of Apple purposely doodling on the user experience with SMS/MMS.
They merely use the „green bubble“ agenda because that‘s literally what the gullible hivemind falls for. It‘s top tier bait to reach the wider masses and get these issues acknowledged.
The "green bubble" is the very visible indicator that you're entire messaging experience within Apple Messages has just been flushed down the toilet.
Yep, but most people don‘t know why. They just assume it‘s because Android is crap.
Samsung and co. play right into that agenda, using the hivemind to spread their message / campaign to get what they want.
I suspect most of those billion already use an alternative messaging service and won’t suddenly start using RCS. RCS is not a replacement for over the top messaging services like iMessage or WhatsApp.
Yes, I'd rather be a furry than an android user.
RCS would, however, enable iMessage users to communicate with WhatsApp users with a fairly standard set of features
They can already do that by either both using iMessage or both using WhatsApp. They don’t need another protocol to do that.
It seems like a very narrow subset of users you are referring to where both refuse to or don’t already use the messaging service that the other already uses to need yet another messaging protocol to solve that.
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You must not live in the US. Apple has a ~60% market share in the US. It's much closer to 100% when you look at the under 25 demographic. The vast majority of those users use the default Apple Messages app to communicate. If you are on an Android device that puts you in a very difficult situation. There's no way you can get all those people to switch to a different app that is available on android. So, all your communication with Apple users is a painful experience.