Right, but do the people you communicate with use those universal apps? Are those apps able to communicate with other apps of the same type (i.e. Whatsapp to Hangouts or iMessage?).
I'm actually curious about that last part.
Yup - for me, its easier on those I communicate with frequently who aren't anywhere near as insane about all of this as I am (I've had roughly 6 smartphones since February). They like to use whats there - no demands, only that it works. And the iPhone is quite simple and easy to use out of the box.
Different people I know communicate using different apps. I use WhatsApp, Hangouts, FB Messenger. I used to also use the default Message app on my phone, but now Hangouts does SMS as well. These apps have more features than SMS and are cross platform. The people I message use iPhones and Androids.
The fact that SMS is unlimited with almost ANY phone plan makes it a little less irritating.....
The bigger problem was having multiple apps for hangouts, messages, video calls.....
Thank goodness Google is finally consolidating some of it. I think the new Hangouts app works quite well. Though I will continue to miss the texting over wifi functionality of iMessage. That is where this idea of being on the same ecosystem comes into play......
Cell service in my house with my radiant barrier is atrocious.
I don't use iMessage, but from what I heard, it does have some nice features. For messaging over WiFi, WhatsApp does this as well as Hangouts.
Right now, there is no universal, standard messaging service other than SMS. All of the other messaging services have some nice features. I would like for there to be some form of new standard with the features from these newer messaging services. I don't see anything really starting to dominate the market right now.
