With my iPhone 11 Pro I’m honestly having more trouble with FaceID than I ever did with TouchID. Going back to a fingerprint scanner with the Note 20 is not something I’m worrying about in the least.
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Switching to S20+ from iPhone
- Thread starter Deacon-Blues
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I'm an Android user, and I can attest to you that no other messaging platform can really duplicate the way iMessage work for iPhone users. And I have most of the messaging platforms on my phone, including whatsapp, line, wechat, telegram, Facebook, signal, and viber. How many messaging apps have you used or tried?
First, none of them can transfer photos in high quality like iMessage. You can workaround sending photos as files, but that ruins the general experience, and normal people don't do that.
Second, you won't have animoji. Yes that sounds silly, but people use them and they're fun for normal people.
Third, encryption and privacy. Do you know whatsapp backup on Google drive is completely unencrypted? Sure there are signal and telegram, but how many of your friends and families actually use them? And that still doesn't solve the photo image quality issue.
Fourth, seamless syncing across Macs and ipads, and backup. Whatsapp can only be installed on a single phone device. Line and wechat have quirky iPad and desktop apps, and their backup methods are not straightforward. Best here are the cloud ones like telegram and Facebook, but the photo issue remains.
So, I have accepted that I will have low res photo sharing and not having great experience. Once the expectation is tempered, then it's fine.
Eh, never had any problem with mine, your's must be faulty.
You can still do facial recognition on Android. They are not as secure as FaceID, but they can add an extra convenience. I use it on my Android, so I can just glance on my phone to unlock it, with the fingerprint sensor ready for fall back when needed.
Just wanted to clear up some of the confusion here.
1st, android messages with RCS is able to send hi res photos. I don’t know the exact file size off the top of my head or if it’s compressed to a large degree, but I know it’s far better than MMS and it’s always looked good when I’ve received them through it.
2nd, Animoji isn’t something most people care about in a messaging app.
3rd, There are 3rd party apps that offer this on android such as Signal which is end to end encrypted. But yes, Apple does a fantastic job with this.
4th, Android messages has a web interface where you can send and receive texts or chat through any browser. Not limited to Apple devices like with iMessage.
Apple does a great job with iMessage, no doubt. But there are android messaging apps with similar features. The issue is these apps aren’t preinstalled and default like iMessage so the adoption rate is low. And if everyone isn’t using the same app, then the feature set becomes useless.
1. How many carriers around the world support RCS? And how many Android handsets support it? Let's be realistic, RCS is not up there with imessage anytime soon.
2. That's your opinion. Normal people on iPhones do enjoy it. Of course, Android users won't know because we don't have it.
4. Web interfaces are not substitute for an actual app, and they don't work well on tablets. Imo best one in this regard is telegram with its many clients, but then there's still the photo sharing issue.
If you already have a Mac (particularly a desktop one) you might want to take a look at AirMessage https://airmessage.org/
I use this with my Note 10+ and so far have found it very reliable. That with a combination of WhatsApp has me covered.
At least all. RCS-e is a needed part of the 5G certification by the GSM forum.
I think the only issue with WhatsApp is that it compresses media. However I prefer it to iMessage because most of my contacts use WhatsApp.
There are a lot of issues with Whatsapp.
1. You can only install the app on a phone device.
2. You can only have one active session on one phone.
3. Backup on Google drive is completely unencrypted, open for Google to do however with it.
4. No native desktop app. Available desktop apps are simply web apps.
5. Backup is not cross platform. Meaning you cannot restore an Android backup to iOS nor vice versa.
6. It is owned by Facebook now, and we know how "ethical" Facebook is as a company.
These are in contrast to other apps like, for example, Telegram.
Telegram:
1. Have phone, tablet, and native desktop apps
2. Can have multiple instances of your account on multiple devices.
3. Data is cloud based, so whichever device you log in, you automatically have your messages there. No backup/restoring confusions.
But you are correct. In the end, it depends on what your friends and families use.
for multi device support every messaging service is trash compared to iMessage and likely always will be.
1. Googles RCS is supported for everyone in the US, UK, and France I believe. As far as features Android Messages with RCS is close to the same feature set as iMessage. Again it’s the adoption rate that hurts it.
2. I have an iPhone and have had one off and on for years. I’ve can count on one hand the number of times I have sent or received an Animoji. I’m not saying nobody uses them, but I doubt that’s the make or break feature for using iMessage.
4. You are praising all the benefits of iMessage and ignoring its downfalls. iMessage is only available on iPhones and Macs. Android messages can be used with any Pc or Mac through a web browser. That in itself makes it much more flexible as PCs are much more affordable.
I’m not hating on iMessage at all, I think it’s fantastic and is the best messaging app for smartphones. But there are definitely android options that work close to as well as iMessage in terms of their features.
RCS relies not only on the carrier, it relies on the fact the other user has a supported Android phone with Google's messaging app (most Android phones have the OEM's own SMS app) AND enables the feature. It's just not going to take over anytime soon.
Note that the overarching theme is not about direct comparisons of messaging apps. The OP is switching from iPhone to Android. Thus I was comparing the experience of using iMessage on an iPhone, versus using the alternatives on Android. The fact that iMessage is only available on iPhone is not a downside when he and his wife were both on iPhones. Get it?
And it's not that I'm pro iMessage. It's about setting the expectation about the messaging apps climate on Android. I don't want to create a false promise as if iMessage was completely replicable on Android by the alternative messaging apps. It's not.
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It’s incorrect that RCS relies on the carrier. Each carrier has their own version of RCS but they are inferior to Google jibe RCS which is available on all android phones in the US, UK, and a couple more countries regardless of carrier.RCS relies not only on the carrier, it relies on the fact the other user has a supported Android phone with Google's messaging app (most Android phones have the OEM's own SMS app) AND enables the feature. It's just not going to take over anytime soon.
Note that the overarching theme is not about direct comparisons of messaging apps. The OP is switching from iPhone to Android. Thus I was comparing the experience of using iMessage on an iPhone, versus using the alternatives on Android. The fact that iMessage is only available on iPhone is not a downside when he and his wife were both on iPhones. Get it?
And it's not that I'm pro iMessage. It's about setting the expectation about the messaging apps climate on Android. I don't want to create a false promise as if iMessage was completely replicable on Android by the alternative messaging apps. It's not.
Regarding the rest of the post, I understand the situation. My original post in here was correcting some of the inaccuracies about your post on android messaging alternatives. I agree that whatever alternative they use on android will take more setup than iMessage and it won’t be adopted by as many of their family and friends, but from a feature standpoint there are options.
Think you have been mislead
1) Whatsapp is available for phones and laptops and 1 is an app the other is a prog on laptops and needs no browser
2) Samsung devices have for sometime allowed more than one active account of whatsapp and with secure folder your other account is even more protected if you use it there
3) If you turn on Icloud backup it is also accessible by Apple same as Google, even if you turn it off but your recipients leave it on it is still accessible by Apple, Imessages are only encrypted in transit same as whatsapp
4) The prog on laptops needs no browser
5) Same for Iphone
6) Subjective
Imessages
1) Only available on less than 10% of devices worldwide
2) Too easy to spam your non Iphone friends MMS where in most countries cost to download
3) Any one non Iphone user in a group chat breaks the pro's
4) Only available on premium devices
5) You only get additional ease of use advantages if you buy another Apple product
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I never realised my standalone Whatsapp PC app is a web app....it's true though, you can't have it installed on just a PC, you need a phone as well, it's like a client.
I can download all files to my PC which is handy, I like how I can receive and send messages while my phone is charging in another room or whatever.
I can download all files to my PC which is handy, I like how I can receive and send messages while my phone is charging in another room or whatever.
WhatsApp - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store
WhatsApp from Meta is a 100% free messaging app. It’s used by over 2B people in more than 180 countries. It’s simple, reliable, and private, so you can easily keep in touch with your friends and family. WhatsApp works across mobile and desktop even on slow connections, with no subscription...
www.microsoft.com
Not as secure and absolutely nowhere near as good. Unless it's a Pixel 4, you can't even compare them.
Yeah The standard face unlock that most android phones have may be fast but are not secure and won’t work in bad lighting conditions. The Pixel 4 is the only exception.
Yep your phone must also be on but as you note its more like a synch program but not a web app as you do not need a browserI never realised my standalone Whatsapp PC app is a web app....it's true though, you can't have it installed on just a PC, you need a phone as well, it's like a client.
I can download all files to my PC which is handy, I like how I can receive and send messages while my phone is charging in another room or whatever.
WhatsApp - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store
WhatsApp from Meta is a 100% free messaging app. It’s used by over 2B people in more than 180 countries. It’s simple, reliable, and private, so you can easily keep in touch with your friends and family. WhatsApp works across mobile and desktop even on slow connections, with no subscription...www.microsoft.com
More importantly the Whatsapp desktop is available for windows or Mac OS
Download WhatsApp for iOS, Mac and PC
Download WhatsApp on your mobile device, tablet or desktop and stay connected with reliable private messaging and calling. Available on Android, iOS, Mac and Windows.
www.whatsapp.com
PS Just tried Line very dominant in Thailand does not need phone to be on
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Yep your phone must also be on but as you note its more like a synch program but not a web app as you do not need a browser
More importantly the Whatsapp desktop is available for windows or Mac OS
Download WhatsApp for iOS, Mac and PC
Download WhatsApp on your mobile device, tablet or desktop and stay connected with reliable private messaging and calling. Available on Android, iOS, Mac and Windows.
Your Phone app from Microsoft works similar to Whatsapp in so far it needs your phone to also be on however it is a far more extensive app
Apart for receiving and sending sms/mms you can also receive and dial from it, view your last 2000 photos receive all notifications from apps and control your phone and interact with it, from your laptop
I do not think Apple have the equivalent of this
So you can have 2 or 3 of your favorite apps running on your phone and displayed on your laptop in a window whilst doing other stuff
I use a Note 10+. For the finger print sensor it would “feel” faster if you just do a quick tap on it instead of holding it. I think it takes a quick scan, the delay is in the processing and animation.
To make it more accurate, when you set it up don’t just scan it on the middle (where the icon shows you), but move your finger around and at different angles. That way it will work even if your finger isn’t exactly in the middle.
I just wish there was a calendar app that was multi-platform that had it own syncing service.
Well no, if it can't work with other phones then it's useless unless everyone you know uses an iPhone (which is not likely at least in Australia). You can't beat what'sapp imo, works on any device like a messaging app should.
WhatsApp doesn’t work with iPads and if you have a tablet an iPad is really the only option worth having. Even on laptops if you don’t use it often you have to set it up again...I use WhatsApp for pics but that’s it these days. Most I text use iMessage now. Apple would be fools to let iMessage go to other platforms as they know for some iMessage is the difference from staying or leaving Apple.