Wait you're concerned about privacy but the message is going to a Google (Android) phone... Privacy is gone once that message hits the phone. As to quality most photos sent in a text are silly unimportant ones that a at best will be viewed on a 8" screen. If you have a bunch of photos from an event or maybe an important photo don't use text.
#2 is the main reason why those apps aren't more popular. Not only do you have to get them to use the app but you also have to get whatever user name they have. I think Facebook is the closest to getting large scale adoption so they have messenger but I'm not sure how photos are handled.
I just never felt the need to get them to use a special messaging app or a limitation with communicating with any of my Android friends. I have several that I text on a daily basis and never found myself sitting on my couch thinking "I wish that photo wasn't sent using the outdated MMS format". I get the photo or text and reply back.
Yep I fully acknowledge I've given up privacy, I have taken as many safe guards as possible but I doubt they will matter much. Can't wait to get back to Apple when they do a foldable screen, but who knows how long that will be.
I HIGHLY disagree that "
most photos sent in a text are silly unimportant ones that a at best will be viewed on a 8" screen" . Many consumers use their phones as their only device, especially in other countries. Heck even here in the US my parents only have iPhones, and good luck trying to explain to them anything remotely technical, they can barely even text message. What about the times I only have my phone on me and I'd like to view it right away, and yes you can CLEARLY see the difference between a MMS video and a full size video even on a phone screen. To illustrate my point even more, most of the time if it's a picture of my family I would like to save that picture to maybe view and/or edit on a larger screen and that just multiplies how awful it looks.
There are work arounds such as picture links and email, but they are cumbersome and often fail because of the limitation of technical knowledge your regular joe possesses or just technical issues with platforms not meshing well. I applaud you on finding a decades old technology like MMS fits your needs, but that's not what I'm finding at all and do need high quality pictures/videos.
