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Android helps Apple "Get the Message"

I'm not a fan of the "war" between Android and Apple when it comes to SMS/texting. The rest of the world doesn't use SMS/RCS/iMessage as much as WhatsApp and the like, so the US is pretty much lagging behind everyone else on this anyway.

That being said, I have to admit Android did a good job with this!

56 comments
  • Ok, I'm gonna get into this.

    2005: Google Talk released.
    2013: Google Hangouts released.
    2015: Google announces Google Talk shutting down, encourages people to move to Hangouts.
    2016: Despite Hangouts being a one stop shop for SMS and Chat, Google discourages people from using it for SMS, asking people to use the Google Messages app instead.
    2016: Google Allo released.
    2016: RCS adoption begins.
    2017: Google Talk shuts down.
    2017: Google Chat released.
    2017: Hangouts is re-targeted for business and moves to some sort of consumer freemium model?
    2018(?): YouTube Chat released, a 1:1 messaging system inside of YouTube. No idea when it was discontinued but it didn't last long.
    2019: Google Allo discontinued.
    2022: Whatever was left of Hangouts is discontinued.
    2023: RCS through Google Messenger is now default instead of SMS and group messages are finally encrypted.

    Compare this to:
    2011: iMessage released. As far as I can tell, it's been e2e encrypted since at least 2012 and potentially since release.

    Google, you have no fucking leg to stand on. Get your shit together. If you had had a coherent messaging strategy, maybe Apple would have been amenable to working with you, but what incentive do they have right now? For all anyone knows, you'll drop RCS by 2026 in favor of moving everyone to Google Heythere, the new ridiculous app for messaging!

  • The rest of the world doesn’t use SMS/RCS/iMessage as much as WhatsApp and the like, so the US is pretty much lagging behind everyone else on this anyway.

    Not sure I want to end up with Facebook controlling my messaging...

  • I guess the iPhone sales numbers in the US are keeping them awake. I personally think Apple will only bend if they are forced somehow by the US government, like the way EU did with type-C.

  • If you're using Google Messages anyway, it's true that RCS is a half-notch better than SMS. Unfortunately, it doesn't compete with any decent chat service on any front—Not signal, not Whatsapp, not Matrix, not even Telegram, and Telegram sucks ass. It's fully centralized, Google gets all of your metadata (which is not worse than Facebook getting all of your metadata, but it is something that Apple obviously won't agree to), there's only one app that does it...

    have they even figured out how to encrypt group chats yet?

    • not even Telegram, and Telegram sucks ass

      Telegram is literally pioneering messaging apps. Everything that other apps add, Telegram has added first. Go look at their blog post updates, and you'll see how far ahead of the curve they are. Features that WhatsApp is getting in 2023, Telegram added back in 2016.

      I am assuming you think they "suck ass", because you're upset the E2EE is not enabled by default, and you have to open a private E2EE chat with someone? You know, the same buttons you press to open a non-E2EE chat?

      • Telegram is literally pioneering messaging apps.

        Oh, is that why they haven't figured out how to encrypt a group chat yet? Or how to sync an encrypted chat? Or how to institute any of their fucking features in an encrypted chat?

        They still don't have multi-channel chat groups, do they? And there's still a limit on how big their chat groups can be, unlike Matrix / Discord / Slack, right?

        Everything that other apps add, Telegram has added first.

        Oh, you're talking about "broadcast channels." No, actually, Twitter added that feature first, it's called Twitter. Telegram Broadcast Channels are just a social network, except it's unmoderated, so crypto scammers can play around there with impunity. Wow, incredible feature!

        But oh boy, you have lots of sticker packs!

        Oh, and it looks like they added stories after Snapchat did it, and then after Facebook did it... what, ten times? fifteen? Yeah, sure, Telegram invented those.

        I am assuming you think they “suck ass”, because you’re upset the E2EE is not enabled by default, and you have to open a private E2EE chat with someone? You know, the same buttons you press to open a non-E2EE chat?

        That's one of the bigger issues, I'm guessing you haven't actually tried using one of those chats since you seem to be excited about all of Telegram's "features." Yeah, sorry, this untold disaster against privacy is an insult to its users' intelligence, and the users can't tell.

56 comments