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Standard Macrumors fare here.

Users point out clear and known flaws. Other users attack them because “you’re doing it wrong” or “Apple is perfect.”

Messages is just ok. It definitely has some hiccups. And it definitely could be so so much better.
 
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Works fine for my use. Not perfect, but every message platform has their own drawbacks. I'll stick with iMessage over all the others.
 
Really? Maybe I just don't group chat as much as others. How often are you quoting for the one extra step of pasting the copied text into your text?
It's a really common thing for the kids these days.

Works fine for my use. Not perfect, but every message platform has their own drawbacks. I'll stick with iMessage over all the others.
That's not mutually exclusive with anything the OP said.
 
Standard Macrumors fare here.

Users point out clear and known flaws. Other users attack them because “you’re doing it wrong” or “Apple is perfect.”

Messages is just ok. It definitely has some hiccups. And it definitely could be so so much better.

you mean, posting an actual solution to a perceived issue is 'standard macrumors fare'.. and that's not a good thing?

all apps are just ok, great, or terrible... depending on the enduser's needs. for me, messages is perfectly fine...
 
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you mean, posting an actual solution to a perceived issue is 'standard macrumors fare'.. and that's not a good thing?

all apps are just ok, great, or terrible... depending on the enduser's needs. for me, messages is perfectly fine...

No one posted an "actual solution" to the primary problem the OP described because...drumroll please...a solution does not exist. This is longstanding (buggy) Messages behavior. It's been discussed repeatedly on Apple's support forums. Sync sometimes fails.

The OP is also clearly aware of the separate issue—again, long, well-documented behavior—that Messages does not support any form of collapsing once emails and phone numbers are joined/reconciled. Again, there is no solution.

This is poor design. That you personally haven't run into sync issues yourself is a completely meaningless tidbit of information. Even if 98% of users never encountered sync problems, that's still really, really bad.

Cornerstone apps used by hundreds of millions of people around the world should be better designed. Period. Full stop. This isn't your buddy's shareware he programmed in his garage.
 
No one posted an "actual solution" to the primary problem the OP described because...drumroll please...a solution does not exist. This is longstanding (buggy) Messages behavior. It's been discussed repeatedly on Apple's support forums. Sync sometimes fails.

The OP is also clearly aware of the separate issue—again, long, well-documented behavior—that Messages does not support any form of collapsing once emails and phone numbers are joined/reconciled. Again, there is no solution.

This is poor design. That you personally haven't run into sync issues yourself is a completely meaningless tidbit of information. Even if 98% of users never encountered sync problems, that's still really, really bad.

Cornerstone apps used by hundreds of millions of people around the world should be better designed. Period. Full stop. This isn't your buddy's shareware he programmed in his garage.

ah, thought you were referring to post#26, the one right above yours. (you can see how that might be). all good!
 
Really? Maybe I just don't group chat as much as others. How often are you quoting for the one extra step of pasting the copied text into your text?

Literally every day. And that’s just one group. I am even quoting my BF in a single thread when he ends up with like 5 texts in a row on WhatsApp
 
whatsapp is far and away better than imessage. it just does so much, from messages, video chat, phone calls, can send any type file and save it to your phone and everything is encrypted end to end. and there are other version like whatsapp+2 or whatsapp+3 if you want to have more than just one whatsapp on your phone all with different numbers.
 
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whatsapp is far and away better than imessage. it just does so much, from messages, video chat, phone calls, can send any type file and save it to your phone and everything is encrypted end to end. and there are other version like whatsapp+2 or whatsapp+3 if you want to have more than just one whatsapp on your phone all with different numbers.

....and it's owned by Facebook....wait...uh oh...

I deleted it from my phone after that.

Snapchat does all those things as well, right?

For a lot of people, it comes down to trust.....I trust Apple with my messages...I'd rather switch over to FaceTime for video chats...I'd rather call (or I can send audio messages through iMessage)...I trust those apps not to screw me over in the end.

This is poor design. That you personally haven't run into sync issues yourself is a completely meaningless tidbit of information. Even if 98% of users never encountered sync problems, that's still really, really bad.

Don't pull numbers out of your ass as examples without actual proof. As far as you know, the complaints about synching issues represent .0002% of all iMessage users (and I would guess my number is closer to the truth). People who have issues complain...loudly sometimes...it typically seems like a larger number or bigger problem than it truly is. Doesn't mean it isn't an issue that should be fixed, but be realistic; every app has it's issues for SOME people.
 
....and it's owned by Facebook....wait...uh oh...

I deleted it from my phone after that.

Snapchat does all those things as well, right?

For a lot of people, it comes down to trust.....I trust Apple with my messages...I'd rather switch over to FaceTime for video chats...I'd rather call (or I can send audio messages through iMessage)...I trust those apps not to screw me over in the end.



Don't pull numbers out of your ass as examples without actual proof. As far as you know, the complaints about synching issues represent .0002% of all iMessage users (and I would guess my number is closer to the truth). People who have issues complain...loudly sometimes...it typically seems like a larger number or bigger problem than it truly is. Doesn't mean it isn't an issue that should be fixed, but be realistic; every app has it's issues for SOME people.

Well, being paranoid is one thing. WhatsApp is used by more than a billion worldwide..many times more people than those using imessage and they are not concerned.

Unless you live in the apple cocoon, then somehow or other you have to use of the 3rd party messenger if you want to communicate with people outside your cocoon
 
This weekend I was helping my dad with a situation. His iphone was sending messages from his phone number, his Macs were sending it from his iCloud email address, he didn't have the same messages on all his machines, he had multiple iMessage threads to the same person, and his phone was missing some iMessages that were on his Mac. I helped him get it all squared away by changing the default sender to his phone number, deleting the odl threads that were messed up, and enabling iMessages in the Cloud.

Additionally, I have a laptop and my iMessages don't get 100% updated on it, despite having iMessages in the Cloud turned on. It syncs some messages to my laptop, but not all. Maybe because it's asleep for days or weeks at a time, I don't know. My son has an account on our Mac, and it does the same thing with him.

Also, myself and most other iPhone users I know have experienced an issue at least once where they didn't get an iMessage on their phone, and it only went to one of their other devices (Mac or iPad). It's not often, but it's enough to be annoying, especially if you're like me and don't check your iMessages on your other devices often.

So it got me thinking, on EVERY other messaging platform I've used (Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Hangouts, etc.), keeping messages in sync "just works". Meaning, if I launch Facebook on my computer, I see the exact same messages on my computer as I do on my phone in the Messenger app. There is no sycnhing, there is no choosing which number/address to send from, there is no issue with messages only appearing on one device, etc. All the messages are there instantly and in sync.

Anyone wonder why Apple can't get this right? Why it is so bug ridden and clumsy?

Messages syncs almost perfectly across all my devices. It’s a great messaging platform.
 
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Well, being paranoid is one thing. WhatsApp is used by more than a billion worldwide..many times more people than those using imessage and they are not concerned.

Unless you live in the apple cocoon, then somehow or other you have to use of the 3rd party messenger if you want to communicate with people outside your cocoon

The majority of those users were on there before Facebook purchased them and I would guess most joining now have no idea Facebook owns them.

I’m not paranoid...Facebook is I. The news practically once a month for collecting data without users knowledge...and suspiciously so...
 
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why would anyone like to use imessage instead of a crossplatform app? e.g. skype and whatsapp.
 
Don't pull numbers out of your ass as examples without actual proof. As far as you know, the complaints about synching issues represent .0002% of all iMessage users (and I would guess my number is closer to the truth). People who have issues complain...loudly sometimes...it typically seems like a larger number or bigger problem than it truly is. Doesn't mean it isn't an issue that should be fixed, but be realistic; every app has it's issues for SOME people.

Speaking of pulling things out of one's ass...don't type without carefully reading first. The word "if" means conditional. It was a hypothetical example. I made no assertion about the actual percentage. There's absolutely nothing wrong with posing a conditional and stating that if that conditional is true, it's unacceptable.

But since you're being such an absolute peach here, now I'll go ahead and speculate, and my background in market research and usability means that my guesstimates are much, much better than others. And I think it's probably a bit higher than just 2% in terms of incidence, but given the infrequency, the impact isn't huge.

This one's easily provable too. Wanna make a $20K bet? Loser pays for the research study?

Yeah, I didn't think so.
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why would anyone like to use imessage instead of a crossplatform app? e.g. skype and whatsapp.
Two reasons: legacy and universal usage.

iMessage began to rise to prominence at a time when carriers were charging per SMS/MMS message. And now, even though message searching absolutely sucks, there are switching costs. To use Skype, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. requires both parties actively download that client. That's never a guarantee. By contrast, it's all but assured that everyone has a cellular phone, and so knowing that you have SMS as a backup if iMessage doesn't work or isn't supported leaves everyone stuck.

We're slowing getting closer to a world with alternatives. Google Voice is a neglected product, but it's gotten better at blending into the native phone experience for iOS and Android alike. But we're still a long ways off.
 
why would anyone like to use imessage instead of a crossplatform app? e.g. skype and whatsapp.

what do you mean by 'crossplatform'? i use messages regularly with iphone users, & android users. we send (& receive) messages, images, gifs. etc. it's simple, it works. isn't that the point? & i don't have to check first whether the people i message with HAVE skype, or whatsapp, installed...
 
To use Skype, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. requires both parties actively download that client. That's never a guarantee. By contrast, it's all but assured that everyone has a cellular phone, and so knowing that you have SMS as a backup if iMessage doesn't work or isn't supported leaves everyone stuck.

so people dont communicate any other way than using sms with android/windows/linux people?
 
so people dont communicate any other way than using sms with android/windows/linux people?

that's fine if they do, and they've worked it out to install the same apps (ie whatsapp). but, for basic messaging, messages works, and everyone can communicate without issue (ie android & iphone users).

there's room for all these apps, depending on need.
 
so people dont communicate any other way than using sms with android/windows/linux people?

I didn't say that. I said that SMS is universal. It's enabled out of the box. Everything else requires a download. That's a barrier, and it's not going away.
 
what do you mean by 'crossplatform'? i use messages regularly with iphone users, & android users. we send (& receive) messages, images, gifs. etc. it's simple, it works. isn't that the point? & i don't have to check first whether the people i message with HAVE skype, or whatsapp, installed...

crossplatform: doesnt matter which os or device you use, you are always reachable. for example using skype, i can use my macbook, or iphone on the street, or ipad on the balcony or android tv box when sitting on the sofa or linux at the work...

what happens if someone sends me imessage while im working with my windows laptop? yeah i get the imessage if i hear it and look at the phone.
 
Well, being paranoid is one thing. WhatsApp is used by more than a billion worldwide..many times more people than those using imessage and they are not concerned.

Unless you live in the apple cocoon, then somehow or other you have to use of the 3rd party messenger if you want to communicate with people outside your cocoon

Facebook is the company with a VPN that reported everything to Facebook. Facebook is the company that uses the phone number you supplied for two factor authentication to spam you.
 
Facebook is the company with a VPN that reported everything to Facebook. Facebook is the company that uses the phone number you supplied for two factor authentication to spam you.
Facebook hating is a little too popular these days.
 
crossplatform: doesnt matter which os or device you use, you are always reachable. for example using skype, i can use my macbook, or iphone on the street, or ipad on the balcony or android tv box when sitting on the sofa or linux at the work...

what happens if someone sends me imessage while im working with my windows laptop? yeah i get the imessage if i hear it and look at the phone.

so, just like apple messages, except you have to make sure that, whoever you're planning to communicate with, has to install the same app you're using? (ie skype, whatsapp). i use messages with my macbook, my iphone on the street, with my GF's ipad, and her android phone... & everyone else i ever text, without having to first be sure they have another app installed.

crossplatform √
 
Really? Maybe I just don't group chat as much as others. How often are you quoting for the one extra step of pasting the copied text into your text?

This Macrumors 'group chat' is full of people quoting each other's posts include your own. There is a reason you quoted itsmilo's post and didn't copy and paste it. It's exactly the same. It greatly improves understanding within a group context.
 
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