Samsung has released a new video in support of Google’s #GetTheMessage campaign which calls for Apple to adopt RCS or “Rich Communication Services,” the cross-platform protocol pitched as a successor to SMS that adopts many of the features found in modern messaging apps… like Apple’s own iMessage.

    • EddieTee77@lemdro.id
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      1 year ago

      The audacity of parents trying to buy something less expensive in these crazy inflated times

    • someguy3@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Ok I’ll ask, how is iMessage fundamentally any different from texting (other than this RCS stuff)? You can still text. Or is it that weird color thing or checkmark that kids are social pressured into?

      • eletes@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        The color is one part, the other is that it breaks functions in iMessage. So the elitism doubles up

        • JargonWagon@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Liked “The color is one part, the other is that it breaks functions in iMessage. So the elitism doubles up”

          • PixxlMan@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Gave thumbs up to “Liked “The color is one part, the other is that it breaks functions in iMessage. So the elitism doubles up””

            • ngdev@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              This was the experience Android users had initially, then Android started parsing them and adding the reaction to the message. This is also when iMessage started getting that type of message instead of the reaction, as a sort of dig at iMessage

          • knexcar@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Images are a lot lower resolution (and no “live” photos which are cute if your mom takes a pic of their pet bunny), you can’t add people to group chats or rename them, you can’t see if someone’s read or typed your message, you can’t “like” texts without them appearing like the above post, I think there are even sound bites, little games but I haven’t played with them.

            • micka190@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Are “custom stickers” (or whatever they’re called) a thing on Android? My dad’s been having a blast taking a bunch of goofy pictures of himself and making stickers out of them. We get a good laugh out of them whenever he sends us a pic of himself leaning into the screen giving us the finger.

      • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Iphone users keep sending me long horribly compressed videos i can’t see at all because it’s not a problem between iPhones. And something about group chats?

        That’s all I know of based on my experience.

        • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          And Android users send me postage-stamp sized videos I can’t see at all. Not gunning, just saying it’s a problem in both directions (and apple’s fault). Also, Android doesn’t have the same easter eggs, like automatic confetti filling my screen when someone writes the word “congratulations!” in iMessage. Oh, right - iMessage gives me in-line replies and the ability to give a thumbs up/down/heart etc. response to a single message. Don’t know if android has this feature, but android users just get a blank text if I “thumbs up” a comment, for example.

          • R0cket_M00se@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yes, we literally have all of that including normal quality images if Apple would just play fucking ball outside of their own ecosystem.

          • DNU@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Reactions are a thing in most messengers. It’s just apple using proprietary code.

          • PlantJam@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Some android messaging apps have the ability to interpret emoji reactions and display them correctly. The issue with photo and video quality is infuriating, though.

            • Goose306@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              Google Messages (RCS app) does that. It even works from iMessage to Android but that is just because Google parses the SMS text that says they reacted that iMessage passive-aggressively sends and makes it appear correctly. It’s not following RCS protocol, it’s basic text parsing is all.

              Incidentally, Google also started sending the same pass-aggressive reacted SMS messages to iPhone users for those using those RCS features, so now Apple gets the messages Android users had to deal with for years (and still do, if they aren’t using Messages). I don’t know is Apple is doing the same parsing or not as Google, if they aren’t then somewhat ironically to Apple’s intention Android now has the better react experience.

          • whofearsthenight@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            It’s a lot of things, and Apple kinda backed into the lock-in aspect I think by mistake. At the time it debuted, you mainly used SMS when mobile texting, and SMS is garbage. It’s not encrypted, was limited to a small number of characters, etc. Picture/video messaging also isn’t part of the standard, so MMS was tacked on with massive limits, because the thing about SMS is that it wasn’t really designed with it’s own bandwidth in mind and instead piggybacked on the carrier signal in idle time (I’m real fuzzy on the details because it’s been so long, if someone knows exactly that would be helpful context.) Most importantly, in the US at least, SMS was a fee carriers absolutely scalped you for. When iMessage came out, carriers were still charging absolutely stupid prices for a package of like 200 texts and per text after, and receiving also counted towards that.

            Apple says “hey we have the internet on this thing, let’s make it a feature that when you send to other iPhone users it doesn’t count against your text package” and then built a “modern” text platform. E2E, rich image/video support, the stuff you mention, etc. They made it so that you didn’t have to worry about whether your friend was on iPhone, you could send a message to their number and Apple would figure it out. The green bubble thing initially was just “btw you’re paying for this one.” The reason I say they kinda backed into the lock-in thing is because obviously the idea here was “buy an iPhone and stop paying stupid carrier fees” which is obviously a lock-in strategy, but that aspect of the carrier plans basically collapsed as Facebook released Messenger that same year, so it quickly became “unlimited for $20” and then just “it’s all in your plan (which we’re just being less obvious bout gouging you on.)”

            The green bubble thing sticks around though in the US largely because the US is one of the few places where iMessage becomes a major player in the messaging space, probably because the US market sees a larger share of iPhone sales due to economics and Apple not really having a low-end strategy except “buy an older iPhone.” Other places go to WhatsApp or WeChat or whatever, but Apple continues to grow (I think around 55% in the US?) and now it’s an annoyance for everyone. I don’t think I’ve ever really seen anyone care about the green bubble other than “shit now I have to figure out how to send them this video of the whatever.” At least for younger generations, this just means that the primary text method becomes Snap (me and my wife are about the only people my kids open the Messages app instead of Snap for) while the olds all use Facebook Messenger, and those who refuse just spend more of their day annoyed.

            Anyway, it was a nice convenience when it launched. Personally, I think Apple has little reason to develop and process messaging for free for Android and businesses don’t do things to be nice, but they’re all about service revenue, so I think they should release an Android app, and make it easy to buy stickers and shit like that, send money via Apple Pay, etc. iMessage has already subtly shifted that direction on iPhone and I know at least in my friend/family group we pass money around like that all the time, and this becomes another thing that’s sort of annoying when we hang out with someone who isn’t on iOS. also, probably obviously, but it’s not even like “oh we’re hanging out with the poor friend on Android” or anything, he is also holding a $900-$1200 phone, so the lack of interop on these types of things that should probably just be a protocol is annoying af.

            • float@feddit.de
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              1 year ago

              Wikipedia sais WhatsApp was released 2009, two years before iMessage. So the idea wasn’t new and they most likely didn’t lock out Android users by accident.

              • whofearsthenight@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Of course the idea wasn’t new. That’s very nearly Apple’s business model - they’re rarely first to market with a technology. I’m sure if I go look, AIM was probably in there pretty close the App Store launch. But Apple’s implementation was quite new. Everyone in the US at least was texting with the phone number as the identifier. Apple made it so that no one had to change any habits, use the same method for texting you have been literally in the same app you always have, and if you text another iPhone it just works better. They didn’t make it worse on Android.

                I’m not sure how this is “lockout.” I already made the argument it’s a lock-in tactic, but like when Tesla came out with the supercharger network, should I be mad that it doesn’t gas up my Honda? Why would we expect that Apple is going to develop and maintain an app for Android for free and the massive amount of infrastructure that goes with it any more than I would expect Tesla to have added a gas pump to the supercharger network? And similar, it’s not like superchargers existing means all of the gas stations are gone.

                It’s also worth noting that RCS functionally didn’t exist during development of iMessage (I think they were forming a committee to decide which committee will implement committee structure votes or something) and that even now RCS implementation is questionable at best between not having E2E as a requirement and the fragmentation that exists even across Android and most especially carriers (lots of examples of RCS being iffy in this thread alone) so it wasn’t like Apple looked at a fully-formed SMS/MMS replacement and chose to do their own thing.

                Then you tack on 10 years of Google absolutely fumbling the bag with their messaging strategy (everyone reading is thinking of a different one - you’re all correct) and now we end up in the situation we’re in where not only did iMessage lock-in work for Apple, it worked better than they hoped and it’s not just keeping people on iPhone, it’s actively attracting people.

                My optimistic take on this is that I hope they decide the lock-in isn’t worth it in favor of the type of model where they monetize through Apple Pay and stuff and build an Android app because I sincerely doubt there is any other way toward unified messaging, in much the same as Tesla now licensing superchargers to other EV makers. As it stands, Apple could give a shit about Samsung’s ads, and aside from the lock-in, a core of their brand is privacy/security so RCS as-is will be a non-starter. Well covered in this thread, but the EU isn’t coming to save us and the US has congress that can’t even regulate it’s own bowel movements, so

                • float@feddit.de
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                  1 year ago

                  The Tesla comparison would work better this way: while you’re driving to another Tesla owner’s place, you’re having a smooth ride, no bumps, car works as expected. Then you put your other friends address into into the navigation and the radio switches to noisy FM and one of the headlights starts to flicker. It’s lock-out because no non-iphone user can join that club. It’s not lock-in, because every iphone user could easily switch to one of the “cross-platform” messangers. Not that I like Google. They’re both sh*t. But just opening up your infrastructure for others doesn’t mean you have to develop and maintain apps for other OSes.

                  • whofearsthenight@lemm.ee
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                    1 year ago

                    SMS works the same as it ever has. Apple hasn’t broken anything, they’re not polluting SMS, it’s always been shit. The Tesla (probably touching a little more on real life) shipped with shitty QA that gave you a crap light and bad stereo. If you take Apple completely out of the equation and just process standard SMS between two Android phones, it’s still going to be garbage. If you add an iPhone, nothing changes. When you add iMessage into the mix, it’s still not breaking anything, only adding a shim on top of SMS, which admittedly sucks, but I think users would rather see “float liked your message” rather than no acknowledgement. This is also what’s happening on Android (and also iOS) a lot of the time.

                    But just opening up your infrastructure

                    “Just” is doing a frick-ton of work in that sentence. At a minimum, they would have had to build and maintain data centers, or at the very least add a lot of capacity to existing centers to support potentially quite likely a few hundred million to a billion Android users. Now you have to design and document APIs for other people’s use. This alone is why I said just build the app themselves, believe it or not it’s probably easier/less headache in the long term. And then there is supporting the API, the users on non-Apple platforms…

                    And why do they want to do that? We’re talking about many millions in expenditure per year for Apple for which they get nothing except less competitive advantage.

            • DarthBueller@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yes, having to figure out how to send a video is super annoying. The easiest default is FB messenger because everyone has it, but fuck I don’t like giving my private messages to meta.

              • whofearsthenight@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                My go-to is just to send an iCloud link. I technically have a Facebook account, but for various social reasons I don’t tell anyone and basically only use it for occasionally browsing marketplace. Even that is more data than I like to give Facebook.

        • MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It goes both ways. Both videos and photos from Galaxy phones end up at like 128x80 on my iphone.

      • MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        iMessage is basically proprietary RCS. SMS doesn’t support images, for example. When you send an image via “sms” you’re really probably using “mms” behind the scenes, which has severe limits to quality. If you send an image with imessage, RCS, or any of a variety of custom messaging protocols, you can get the full-quality image.

        They also support gimmicks like “reacting” to messages which get overlaid in-line with a heart icon. On SMS it is sent as “MooseBoys loved ‘be right there’”.

        • russjr08@outpost.zeuslink.net
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          1 year ago

          They also support gimmicks like “reacting” to messages which get overlaid in-line with a heart icon. On SMS it is sent as “MooseBoys loved ‘be right there’”.

          Technically, yes SMS doesn’t support reactions. But you can do what Google does and just parse that text and “turn” it into a reaction for viewing purposes.

          If an iPhone user sends me a reaction it looks fine to me, but funnily enough now when I send one back it looks the exact way Apple sends it to non Apple devices.

        • stevehobbes@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          RCS is basically proprietary RCS.

          It is not open, it is controlled by the telcos, and google has been pushing their own proprietary version of RCS to the telcos.

          It’s no better than iMessage. This isn’t a problem in the rest of the world, they just all use WhatsApp.

          This is a legacy of the US being out in front of adoption of SMS, and it still being ingrained. It’s largely only a US problem. And it’s not even really a problem.

          I love iMessage, but I have WhatsApp and signal and like 19 other apps that offer messaging for people who prefer it.

          • MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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            but I have WhatsApp and signal and like 19 other apps that offer messaging

            That’s the problem. Maybe it’s a cultural thing, but Americans seem to be quite averse to downloading a new app or signing up for a new service just to communicate with someone if I have their phone number. As a result, it needs to be supported by default on all phones as shipped. Today, the only thing that fits that is SMS.

            • stevehobbes@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              I guess. I’m American and interact with plenty of friends via discord, instagram and others. My friend group has a private discord and I use DMs instead of iMessage all the time.

      • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        how is iMessage fundamentally any different from texting

        Not entirely sure what you’re asking but

        • iOS does not allow you to use any other messaging app for SMS. This is surely intentional to lock you into iMessage.

        • If you’re messaging iOS --> iOS your “text” messages (SMS) are automatically upgraded to the iMessage protocol, and there are a wide variety of features that are enabled without the user downloading any other apps or switching the protocol. It just happens.

        • ribboo@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You can turn off iMessage and you’ll be sending texts as regular SMS.

            • ribboo@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              No clue, just saying you’re “allowed” to use SMS if it’s important to you. But I might have misinterpreted you!

              • Cubes@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Above commenter was saying that you’re not allowed to use any other app besides the default messages app to send SMS on an iPhone, so a third party can’t just come in with an SMS app that also implements RCS so everyone can be happy

        • darkentries@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You can send SMS on iPhone with the Google voice app. Yes it would be from a different phone number than your SIM, but it works.

      • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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        1 year ago

        It’s not just the bubble color. The bubble color means it will be more difficult to exchange photos/videos (they get sent in MMS and compressed to hell) or use stickers/reactions properly.

          • TJA!@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Or just don’t use iMessage for texting. Every other messaging app has these features and is free and usable on every smartphone

          • elint@programming.dev
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            SMS isold and shitty, but its supported on every phone model. Apple stacked iMessage on top of it for rich media when both endpoints support iMessage. android and others stacked RCS on top of SMS for the same rich media purposes. When incompatible devices communicate (iOS<->non-iOS), they fall back to crappy SMS. You’re saying you like the separate-system status quo and if you want to communicate with one group or the other (iOS or non-iOS), switch devices. We’re saying why can’t we all just have one rich-media format that works for everybody?" I don’t care if Apple switches to RCS or opens up full-featured iMessage to everybody. I just want to be able to talk to all my friends without us having to buy the same hardware. Are you just being intentionally obtuse?

          • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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            I have an iPhone, and the primary reason why is because 90% of my friends and family will not adopt another app for messaging. Why should they when literally everyone else they communicate with can take iMessages?

            But when everyone is passing around photos and videos, the one person who greatly prefers open-standards gets (and sends) potato quality.

            And that is really Apples “fault”. Not really, though, because it’s not an accident that they have an amazing messaging platform that is the system default and just so happens to be proprietary. And as such they have no incentive to fix it, because it will only lead to people like me leaving iPhone.

          • HughJanus@lemmy.ml
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            As I said- you k ow damn well you’d do the exact same thing about it- which is nothing. And collect tons of cash.

            No I would make it available to everyone in a fuckin’ heartbeat because I’m not a scumbag but maybe that’s why I’m not a CEO.

    • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      You can’t make this stuff up

      Except that You literally made it up though? You embellished the part about poor families and cheap phones, here’s the actual quote:

      I am concerned [that] iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove an obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.

        • micka190@lemmy.world
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          Kids might want an Android phone for another reason than “we’re poor”. For a while, there were plenty of apps you could get on an Android that you couldn’t get on an iPhone. Customization was a big deal back when I was in highschool. All the cool kids had these shitty custom launchers that made their phone borderline unusable if you didn’t know how they were setup, but that was the cool thing to do back then.

          • Slayer_of_Oryx@reddthat.com
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            1 year ago

            I’ve got the money to buy an iPhone, but prefer Android for customization and app reasons still. Apple is far too restrictive of a phone that you own. I like the ability to side load apps, and I play a lot of emulated GBA/DS games, and apple doesn’t allow emulator apps on their store.

            • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              I can afford an iPhone 15 but I run a used OnePlus 6T I got on eBay for $100 because postmarketOS runs well on it. I ran a $200 PinePhone for a while before that. Bring on the phones that put the user’s control ahead of the profits.

        • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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          I’d read it the way it was written. Apple has less expensive phones for people who want them, and honestly most poor families just get their phones through their carrier at a monthly rate, so your assertion isn’t really a necessary tactic.

          • Meltrax@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Uh… Apple has the iPhone. That’s all they have. They make the iPhone. One phone. What other phone do that have?

            • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              They currently offer 4 different families of iPhone for sale. The cheapest one is the SE for $429.

      • Dran@lemmy.world
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        What else could it imply? Surely if money is not an obstacle they’d just buy the iPhone they wanted for their kids.