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Switched to android from iOS, immediately miss imessage :(

nickcv

Member
Less people have whatsapp in the US than there are iPhone users. What part of that is difficult to understand? What good is a messaging app where the majority of your contacts don't have whatsapp?




K

^^^See, my response to this could have been done with sms. I didnt need an animoji in the response.

Forget emoji and cosmetic stuff for a second =P

If you have to meet someone in a crowded place with no easy to distinguish features (i.e. a park or a beach) the most sensible thing to do is send them your location. How do you do that with sms? What if you need to do that in a group chat and a few of your friends don't have an iPhone?

imessage or not imho in this day an age you need to be able to reliably send 100% if the time to 100% of the possible recipient something that allows that kind of conversation and sms ain't it
 

Gamespawn

Member
I just don't understand how anyone would ever be fine with the option of sending a sms.

Probably you guys is the US mostly text words but for us is pictures, locations, videos and voice most of the time. If my messages for some reason could randomly revert to sms the recipient would lose half of the conversation.

Messages that are not going through the Internet are just inadeguate, and that is why most of you guys in the US dread the green bubble I assume, but your solution doesn't cover anyone that might have a different device.

On top of that any function that basically forces me to not being able to buy 90% of the devices that exist in the market sounds like a hindrance and something that would be worth prosecuting for monopoly charges.

People in this thread made comparisons to the browsers war and the EU made it clear with Microsoft that you cannot abuse the fact that you are the market leader
Thats where mms comes in...
 
So I went to check how many people have Androids in the USA because so many people claim "i dont know anyone that is not an iphone user".

https://www.google.es/amp/s/www.rec...9038/iphone-apple-android-sales-united-states

55% of the market is Androids. Unless you talk to half a dozen people, I find it very very very unlikely that you dont talk to people with android phones. Come on, I have lots.of conversations in my Whatsapp, some people that I talked once or twice, most of them have some kind of photo/location/contact on them, it would be a pain in the ass to use SMS instead.

Also, people who buy iphones dont have money to have a data plan? This is the biggest joke. Everybody has internet all the time, specially those that pay 300+ om a phone (im even starting with prices from used iphones, not to say those that pay full price...).

Why are you applying a country wide statistic to a few individuals and their family and friends on the internet?
 

this_guy

Member
Forget emoji and cosmetic stuff for a second =P

If you have to meet someone in a crowded place with no easy to distinguish features (i.e. a park or a beach) the most sensible thing to do is send them your location. How do you do that with sms? What if you need to do that in a group chat and a few of your friends don't have an iPhone?

imessage or not imho in this day an age you need to be able to reliably send 100% if the time to 100% of the possible recipient something that allows that kind of conversation and sms ain't it

To share location you can open Google Maps->Location Sharing. That's more intuitive to me to use Google maps than a messaging service to share location.
 

Dalek

Member
Forget emoji and cosmetic stuff for a second =P

If you have to meet someone in a crowded place with no easy to distinguish features (i.e. a park or a beach) the most sensible thing to do is send them your location. How do you do that with sms? What if you need to do that in a group chat and a few of your friends don't have an iPhone?

imessage or not imho in this day an age you need to be able to reliably send 100% if the time to 100% of the possible recipient something that allows that kind of conversation and sms ain't it

Maybe I could just use words?
 

mid83

Member
I just don't understand how anyone would ever be fine with the option of sending a sms.

Probably you guys is the US mostly text words but for us is pictures, locations, videos and voice most of the time. If my messages for some reason could randomly revert to sms the recipient would lose half of the conversation.

Messages that are not going through the Internet are just inadeguate, and that is why most of you guys in the US dread the green bubble I assume, but your solution doesn't cover anyone that might have a different device.

On top of that any function that basically forces me to not being able to buy 90% of the devices that exist in the market sounds like a hindrance and something that would be worth prosecuting for monopoly charges.

People in this thread made comparisons to the browsers war and the EU made it clear with Microsoft that you cannot abuse the fact that you are the market leader

Everything you said doesn’t matter when 99% of the people in the US are using default messaging functionality. Just like people in Europe need to use WhatsApp to talk to most people, we need to use Messages or the Android equivalent to talk to most people here.
 

Juice

Member
Forget emoji and cosmetic stuff for a second =P

If you have to meet someone in a crowded place with no easy to distinguish features (i.e. a park or a beach) the most sensible thing to do is send them your location. How do you do that with sms? What if you need to do that in a group chat and a few of your friends don't have an iPhone?

imessage or not imho in this day an age you need to be able to reliably send 100% if the time to 100% of the possible recipient something that allows that kind of conversation and sms ain't it

Ive been an Apple fanboy since 2004 so I was never at risk of not having iMessage, but in my professional and personal circles, 90% of people have iPhones and the remaining 10% must feel a tremendous pressure to get on board.

I don't group text often (I never really understood the appeal--for anything persistent I'd prefer creating a slack or something), but I can't remember the last time I was in a group of 10 or more with a single non-iMessage user. I suspect that the Android users are just left off such groups as soon as the header changes green. Reflecting more, I definitely text with Android friends less often--in part because all of them use other app platforms I don't use so they tend to be slow to respond to SMS.

This is certainly troubling from a social trend perspective, especially considering the class implications. :-/
 

linkboy

Member
Forget emoji and cosmetic stuff for a second =P

If you have to meet someone in a crowded place with no easy to distinguish features (i.e. a park or a beach) the most sensible thing to do is send them your location. How do you do that with sms? What if you need to do that in a group chat and a few of your friends don't have an iPhone?

imessage or not imho in this day an age you need to be able to reliably send 100% if the time to 100% of the possible recipient something that allows that kind of conversation and sms ain't it

I just opened up Google maps, went to location sharing and sent myself a sms message through textra with my location. It also gave me to option to enter phone numbers or add people via my contact list.

Took all of 5 seconds.

Also, every phone in the US supports sms, which is why programs like whatsapp never caught on. It doesn't matter if you run Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry or stick with Palm OS, sms/mms works on every phone sold in the US. Sms/mms is also the only way to send messages to people without smartphones (which there still are a lot of, especially older people, who aren't all that tech savy).

SMS/MMS is shit, but for the vast majority of people, it works perfectly fine.
 

mid83

Member
Ive been an Apple fanboy since 2004 so I was never at risk of not having iMessage, but in my professional and personal circles, 90% of people have iPhones and the remaining 10% must feel a tremendous pressure to get on board.

I don't group text often (I never really understood the appeal--for anything persistent I'd prefer creating a slack or something), but I can't remember the last time I was in a group of 10 or more with a single non-iMessage user. I suspect that the Android users are just left off such groups as soon as the header changes green. Reflecting more, I definitely text with Android friends less often--in part because all of them use other app platforms I don't use so they tend to be slow to respond to SMS.

This is certainly troubling from a social trend perspective, especially considering the class implications. :-/

Do people seriously make a big deal about blue/green bubbles? It’s not even something I pay attention to unless I’m wanting to do something using the new Messsges functionality in iOS 10 like stickers or apps.

Otherwise, it has no bearing on how I communicate with my contacts. It’s pretty weird to me that people seem to get hung up on it.
 
It's amazing how people care so much about video and camera quality over MMS yet they post shitty compressed snapchat videos and instagram photos.
 
Do people seriously make a big deal about blue/green bubbles? It’s not even something I pay attention to unless I’m wanting to do something using the new Messsges functionality in iOS 10 like stickers or apps.

Otherwise, it has no bearing on how I communicate with my contacts. It’s pretty weird to me that people seem to get hung up on it.

I get shit all the time from people about my green bubble. They laugh about it but I know they really are judging me. I tend to do a big show about how I'm anti Apple and not just lacking funds if it comes up.
 

snacknuts

we all knew her
Ive been an Apple fanboy since 2004 so I was never at risk of not having iMessage, but in my professional and personal circles, 90% of people have iPhones and the remaining 10% must feel a tremendous pressure to get on board.
They really fucking don't unless they're morons.
 

VoxPop

Member
USA: iMessage/SMS/FB Messenger

Europe: WhatsApp

Asia: WeChat/Line/KakaoTalk


I personally love iMessage. I can talk to anyone (in the US or iPhone users internationally) seamlessly without the need to open anything other my built in Messages app. It is a shit ton better than any standard Android texting app and I've tried most if not all of them. Why do you even need multiple SMS apps? I really don't understand why they can't just implement their iMessage clone in Allo (or even god awful Hangouts with SMS support) as standard across their phones as well. I guess it's not everyone's cup of tea but the group messaging functionality, stickers, sending money, etc is baked into the native messaging app which increases their adoption rate astronomically.

The only thing that has ever came close was BBM back in the day but even then it was still a hassle. It most certainly helps that a majority of my friends use iPhones and those that don't I can just SMS with without having to leave the app I already use to chat with everyone. I certainly don't want to download another app to just talk to a select few people. Sure, if I was in another country where everyone used it, it's different, but forcing people elsewhere to adopt a 3rd party app that no one uses just because everyone in their own respective country uses that you have to register for is just hilarious to me.
 

netBuff

Member
to adopt a 3rd party app that no one uses just because everyone in their own respective country uses that you have to register for is just hilarious to me.

But that's the beauty of WhatsApp: There's no registration necessary, it pretty much just works. And it's much better than SMS/MMS messaging. And it's available on all platforms. iMessage is a transparent ploy to lock iPhone users into the Apple ecosystem.
 

VoxPop

Member
But that's the beauty of WhatsApp: There's no registration necessary, it pretty much just works. And it's much better than SMS/MMS messaging. And it's available on all platforms. iMessage is a transparent ploy to lock iPhone users into the Apple ecosystem.

That's great and all but what's the point when I can already message Android users (and even flip phone users) within iMessage?
 

netBuff

Member
That's great and all but what's the point when I can already message Android users (and even flip phone users) within iMessage?

It breaks down as soon as you're crossing country borders, especially with group texts and pictures/videos. If you have friends that move around the globe and adopt local phone numbers, iMessage isn't going to help you. MMS is a shitty protocol in general.

With SMS, stuff like read receipts etc. is also pretty much missing (I know they do exists, but they're not reliable compared to WhatsApp).
 

VoxPop

Member
It breaks down as soon as you're crossing country borders, especially with group texts and pictures/videos. If you have friends that move around the globe and adopt local phone numbers, iMessage isn't going to help you. MMS is a shitty protocol in general.

Thankfully I don't have any non iPhone using globe trotters who cross country borders every day who I talk to on a regular basis. I'm sure that's not the case for everyone but I'm sure I would find a way to contact them if it was important enough.

Also my iMessage group chats would still pretty much be flawless regardless of what country I'm in.
 

TechnicPuppet

Nothing! I said nothing!
Ive been an Apple fanboy since 2004 so I was never at risk of not having iMessage, but in my professional and personal circles, 90% of people have iPhones and the remaining 10% must feel a tremendous pressure to get on board.

I don't group text often (I never really understood the appeal--for anything persistent I'd prefer creating a slack or something), but I can't remember the last time I was in a group of 10 or more with a single non-iMessage user. I suspect that the Android users are just left off such groups as soon as the header changes green. Reflecting more, I definitely text with Android friends less often--in part because all of them use other app platforms I don't use so they tend to be slow to respond to SMS.

This is certainly troubling from a social trend perspective, especially considering the class implications. :-/

Very well put and I completely agree.
 

mid83

Member
It breaks down as soon as you're crossing country borders, especially with group texts and pictures/videos. If you have friends that move around the globe and adopt local phone numbers, iMessage isn't going to help you. MMS is a shitty protocol in general.

With SMS, stuff like read receipts etc. is also pretty much missing (I know they do exists, but they're not reliable compared to WhatsApp).

Crossing border chatting is likely no where near as prevelant here as it is in Europe outside of immigrant populations who communicate with friends and family back in their home country. I imagine in those cases they use whichever chat solution is common at home (WhatsApp, LINE etc...). My mom uses WhatsApp to talk with her family back in Spain for example.
 

eot

Banned
It breaks down as soon as you're crossing country borders, especially with group texts and pictures/videos. If you have friends that move around the globe and adopt local phone numbers, iMessage isn't going to help you. MMS is a shitty protocol in general.

With SMS, stuff like read receipts etc. is also pretty much missing (I know they do exists, but they're not reliable compared to WhatsApp).
Yeah I moved country and changed SIM card and it was _impossible_ to un-register my old number with iMessage and have it accept the new one (trust me I tried everything). The arguments for it are garbage anyway, if you like the functionality why don't you miss it when you talk to non-iPhone users? There's no good reason to use a platform exclusive messaging app.
 

numble

Member
It breaks down as soon as you're crossing country borders, especially with group texts and pictures/videos. If you have friends that move around the globe and adopt local phone numbers, iMessage isn't going to help you. MMS is a shitty protocol in general.

With SMS, stuff like read receipts etc. is also pretty much missing (I know they do exists, but they're not reliable compared to WhatsApp).

How does it break down when you move across borders? iMessage is actually tied to the Apple ID--this is why, for example, you can receive iMessages on your Mac, iPad or iPod Touch even if the person on the other end is sending a message to your "phone number".
 

Laieon

Member
There's no good reason to use a platform exclusive messaging app.

I 100% agree with this. I'm planning on heading back to the US next year after living in Korea for 4 years. I'm going miss using Kakao tremendously.
 

microfolk

Member
my wife and her relatives over seas use Viber, must be an Italian thing.

Everybody, from kids to old people who never touched a cellphone before a couple of years ago, uses WhatsApp here. There are certain groups of young people who prefer Telegram but they are a minority.

Never heard of Viber before now.
 

mid83

Member
There's no good reason to use a platform exclusive messaging app.

If that platform exclusive app is where most people are, then that is a great reason to use it. Using WhatsApp isn’t going to be very useful when most people here haven’t downloaded it.
 
So to sum up this thread:

"My communication piece is better"
"No mine is"
"lol(other country)"
"I literally only know 1 person..."
"Well I literally only know 1 person..."

And repeat?
You forgot the smartarse post that adds nothing to the discussion but makes the poster feel smug and intelligent.

Or did you?

According to users above Unlimited messaging, especially MMS was not unlimited until recently in the UK. SMS and MMS are bundled here in the USA.
Was it like that in 2010 and 2011, which was when Whatsapp started to gain traction.

I honestly don't know, as I'm not in the UK. However, if plans didn't offer unlimited sms around that time, it makes sense that an app like whatsapp would benefit from being in the right place at the right time.

It's similar with an app like Kakaotalk in Korea, which is the dominant messaging app there.
Fair enough, I've never had any issues with unlimited messaging or calls and I usually only pay about £15 a month rolling.
 

Jonnax

Member
This thread:

OP: "I switched to Android, but I miss Messages, because that's because that's what the majority of people in my country uses to communicate."
WhatsApp user: "You should use WhatsApp, because that's what the majority of people in my country uses to communicate."
Messenges user: "That's cool, but we use Messages, because that's what the majority of people in my country uses to communicate."
WhatsApp user: "What? That's stupid. Stop being so elitist."

The majority of people in your country don't own iPhones.
 
There's no good reason to use a platform exclusive messaging app.
Instead of using a messaging service that uses WiFi and sms so it can text any phone. You want people to switch to a service that can only be sent over data and WiFi to people who also have the same app. Do you not see how What’s app is trying to fix a problem that most Americans don’t have?
 
Instead of using a messaging service that uses WiFi and sms so it can text any phone. You want people to switch to a service that can only be sent over data and WiFi to people who also have the same app. Do you not see how What’s app is trying to fix a problem that most Americans don’t have?

Nah, people would rather shitpost like the person between us instead of actually understanding what's going on in the US.
 

99Luffy

Banned
Instead of using a messaging service that uses WiFi and sms so it can text any phone. You want people to switch to a service that can only be sent over data and WiFi to people who also have the same app. Do you not see how What’s app is trying to fix a problem that most Americans don’t have?
Have you been reading the thread. 'Green bubbles' are a problem, so much so that apparently android users are constantly pressured to get iphones.
 

dcll

Banned
Do people seriously make a big deal about blue/green bubbles? It’s not even something I pay attention to unless I’m wanting to do something using the new Messsges functionality in iOS 10 like stickers or apps.

Otherwise, it has no bearing on how I communicate with my contacts. It’s pretty weird to me that people seem to get hung up on it.

Very weird indeed, if someone I knew acted this way I would have to call them out on their ignorance
 
Instead of using a messaging service that uses WiFi and sms so it can text any phone. You want people to switch to a service that can only be sent over data and WiFi to people who also have the same app. Do you not see how What’s app is trying to fix a problem that most Americans don’t have?

iMessage isn't the only app that can send both SMS and 'chat' messages.

Samsung's messaging app is the same.
 
There are more Android than iPhone users in the US. But the Android users have to deal with stone age SMS + MMS nonsense because iPhone users really like iMessage? Damn, free SMS really fucked you guys in the long run, huh?

It's like every other country figured out that having a default platform-agnostic messenger is a really awesome thing to have, and you guys in the US got left behind.
 
This is Google's greatest sin, in my opinion. I'm an Android user, but I've been longing for a unified messaging system for years. Hangouts looked like it could be that, but then they threw it to the wayside despite not having any feasible alternative.

My family started a GroupMe chat yesterday, and I was like seriously? GroupMe? We all have Facebook, and a number of us have WhatsApp and Hangouts, and you went with GroupMe?

Stupid stuff like this wouldn't happen if most of the family was using something like Hangouts by default.
 

otakukidd

Member
This is Google's greatest sin, in my opinion. I'm an Android user, but I've been longing for a unified messaging system for years. Hangouts looked like it could be that, but then they threw it to the wayside despite not having any feasible alternative.

My family started a GroupMe chat yesterday, and I was like seriously? GroupMe? We all have Facebook, and a number of us have WhatsApp and Hangouts, and you went with GroupMe?

Stupid stuff like this wouldn't happen if most of the family was using something like Hangouts by default.
Android has a great alternative in allo. But to do anything they need need need sms support. The rumor has always been that the reason they never did it cause they are afraid of it being anti trust so they have been pushing rich sms.
 

Stat Flow

He gonna cry in the car
The 5 people I talk to regularly (Mom, Dad, Sister, Girlfriend, best bud) all have iPhones so you better goddamn believe I use iMessage. Anything else would be like bleeding ourselves out for no reason.
 
I still have no idea what anybody's point is in this thread.

I'm an iPhone user, as is my wife. The iPhone's text app is named Messages. Because we're both iPhone users, the messages are sent as iMessages..

My boss and work partner have Androids. We use group texts to communicate with no issue. Guess what, I use the Messages app and I can talk to Android people. I'm not locked to a platform or whatever.

I talk to a friend in Canada regularly, I don't know what type of phone they have, but the dreaded green bubbles don't stop the messages coming in. Messages app works fine and nobody's been extorted to buy an iPhone.

I see this egocentric view again and again here. You having a certain contract doesn't change the fact the person abroad still has to pay to write you a simple text message back. and heavens forbid he/she wants to send you a pic!


Meanwhile whatsapp allows me to have group chats across multiple continents and phone brands, with everyone being able to share photos etc to each other at zero costs or hassle.
I can do it with people I don't want to add on Facebook or even chat with a tourguide during my vacation that needs to send me pics of the time schedule etc.

Egocentric? My ass, man. As I said, I talk with a Canadian friend daily and everything works. If it was costing my friend money, they could say "Hey dude, these texts cost me money, can we use another app?" Ironic that in a thread about a communication tool, we're having a very difficult time accepting that people can communicate these issues to each other.
 

Oxn

Member
I still have no idea what anybody's point is in this thread.

I'm an iPhone user, as is my wife. The iPhone's text app is named Messages. Because we're both iPhone users, the messages are sent as iMessages..

My boss and work partner have Androids. We use group texts to communicate with no issue. Guess what, I use the Messages app and I can talk to Android people. I'm not locked to a platform or whatever.

I talk to a friend in Canada regularly, I don't know what type of phone they have, but the dreaded green bubbles don't stop the messages coming in. Messages app works fine and nobody's been extorted to buy an iPhone.

I know right. American users aren't even complaining at all. But it seem like mostly European users with their "superior" whatapp seems the most upset at what we choose to use.
 
I still have no idea what anybody's point is in this thread.

I'm an iPhone user, as is my wife. The iPhone's text app is named Messages. Because we're both iPhone users, the messages are sent as iMessages..

My boss and work partner have Androids. We use group texts to communicate with no issue. Guess what, I use the Messages app and I can talk to Android people. I'm not locked to a platform or whatever.

I talk to a friend in Canada regularly, I don't know what type of phone they have, but the dreaded green bubbles don't stop the messages coming in. Messages app works fine and nobody's been extorted to buy an iPhone.



Egocentric? My ass, man. As I said, I talk with a Canadian friend daily and everything works. If it was costing my friend money, they could say "Hey dude, these texts cost me money, can we use another app?" Ironic that in a thread about a communication tool, we're having a very difficult time accepting that people can communicate these issues to each other.
Yup. No issues here when communicating between different platforms. IMessage has been amazing.
 
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