#ANDROID MESSAGES ANDROID#
Bringing RCS to iMessage and making communication easier with Android users would only help to weaken Apple's walled garden, and the company has said it doesn't want that.
Apple case, we know the company views iMessage lock-in as a valuable weapon. AdvertisementĪpple hasn't ever publicly shot down the idea of adding RCS to iMessage, but thanks to documents revealed in the Epic v. The biggest holdout is Apple, which only supports SMS through iMessage. After years of protesting, the US carriers are all onboard, and there is some uptake among the international carriers, too. Since RCS replaces SMS, Google has been on a campaign to get the industry to make the upgrade. Google tries to band-aid over the aging standard with its "Google Messaging" client, but the result is a lot of clunky solutions that don't add up to a good modern messaging service. It is a 14-year-old carrier standard, though, so it lacks many of the features you would want from a modern messaging service, like end-to-end encryption and support for non-phone devices. RCS adds typing indicators, user presence, and better image sharing to carrier messaging.
#ANDROID MESSAGES UPGRADE#
The "solution" Google is pushing here is RCS, or Rich Communication Services, a GSMA standard from 2008 that has slowly gained traction as an upgrade to SMS. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is disingenuous for a company that has humanity and equity as a core part of its marketing. Let's fix this as one industry." Google SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer chimed in, too, saying, "Apple's iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy. "Texting should bring us together, and the solution exists. "iMessage should not benefit from bullying," the official Android Twitter account wrote. The social pressure is palpable, with some reporting being ostracized or singled out after switching away from iPhones." Google feels this is a problem. According to the article, "Teens and college students said they dread the ostracism that comes with a green text. iMessage brands texts from iPhone users with a blue background and gives them additional features, while texts from Android phones are shown in green and only have the base SMS feature set. The company was responding to a Wall Street Journal report detailing the lock-in and social pressure Apple's walled garden is creating among US teens. Interest in end-to-end encryption has mushroomed over the past decade, particularly with revelations from Edward Snowden of indiscriminate spying on electronic communications by the NSA.Google took to Twitter this weekend to complain that iMessage is just too darn influential with today's kids. Google said on Thursday that it has now completed its worldwide rollout of RCS and is moving to a new phase-end-to-end encryption. As Ars reviews editor Ron Amadeo noted last year, RCS interest from carriers has been tepid, so Google has been rolling it out with limited support. They lead to things like better-quality photos and videos, chat over Wi-Fi, knowing when a message is read, sharing reactions, and better capabilities for group chats. Typing indicators, presence information, location sharing, longer messages, and better media support are key selling points. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast.Ībbreviated as RCS, Rich Communication Service provides a, well, richer user experience than the ancient SMS standard. This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more.
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