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Switched to android from iOS, immediately miss imessage :(

Rktk

Member
I can only imagine people without WhatsApp installed don't have friends and family outside of their suburban hellscape.
 

Plopboy

Unconfirmed Member
Nope I don't use Whatsapp as I don't want them sharing my information with Facebook. I realise you can opt out but no.
 

Exile20

Member
I feel you OP. My family members all have iPhones and only one has an Android phone. iMessage and Facetime are really the only things keeping me on the iPhone. It makes communication just that much easier between important people. No hassle, no 3rd party apps, no account creation which people hate to bother with...

People make this thing so much more difficult that it has to be.

People download 3rd party app every day. Not sure when it comes to a message app then it is, damn I have to download it? While they have my little pony app.

It uses your phone number so no creating a password or logging in. It is faster than logging in a new iphone or Android phone. Not sure where the hassle it, since you download it once. Takes like less than 5 minutes. There is more hassle in only having Iphone friends, now that has to suck.
 
She has it, just doesn't use it. Why? Her entire circle is on iMessage. So WhatsApp is entirely for me, so naturally, she's not going to swap to an app to talk to me. She'll just text message. It just sucks to text message only on android as I can't even send a video I take to her without getting a failed message.

Why won't she just switch to Whatsapp? It takes like a second, same as it does to switch to SMS.
 

M3d10n

Member
It feels like everybody has an iPhone in the USA. Wtf even if 80% of the people had iMessage, the other 20% would have android and, thus, would use whatsapp, Facebook messenger, viber or whatever. it amazes me how people say "all my friends and family have iphones". It just cant be real.

Also, its like installing whatsapp would take more than 10 seconds. And im sure they wouldnt install it for you only, but im sure there are many other people that are in the same situation. Its like there are 2 completely separate communities of people: lazy people with iphones and other people with android/wp/bb.

Believe it or not, people in the US still use SMS as their primary text messaging platform. They even actually use MMS (I never ever sent nor received a MMS message in my life nor do I personally know anyone who ever did it).

Apple's iMessage solidified that by using SMS as a fallback and for a combination of reasons US cellphone operators started adding unlimited texting (and even MMS) to their plans 10+ years ago while the rest of the world's operators preferred to use that to squeeze more money off their customers (most still do).

The fact that US residents were able to get dirty cheap iPhones along with the 2+ year phone contracts for nearly the entire existence of the device also helped in that it made iPhones ubiquitous in the US among all income brackets. It was like giving away heroin for free: they got people hooked, built a closed ecosystem everyone uses and people get punished if they try to leave it, giving Apple free reign over the US phone market. That never happened everywhere else where a new iPhone would cost $600 + taxes + reseller margin, limiting it's reach to the high-end phone market and preventing iMessage from ever reaching the critical mass it requires to become viable.

This is also why Apple will never release iMessage on Android: it's their prime lock-in tool in the US.
 

Milennia

Member
actually come to think of it i never text message at all anymore considering all of my friends for the most part use discord and then i get imessages from family
 

Newline

Member
Same. If someone else has an iPhone it uses i Message. Everything just works. I have never needed something like Whatsapp.

I have Facebook Messenger but most of the time it's people passing spam around. It's silly.
WhatsApp handles rich hyper links and media content no matter what device both users are on. It's perfect for managing group chats. It's still a top notch direct messaging service. You get all of that in a single app, no need to think about where you may have held 'that' conversation.
 

Cdammen

Member
Yeah nobody’s gonna download another messaging app
I have three. It's no biggie to switch between them. I use whatever people wanna use, and it's a shame iMessage isn't available on Android. I would've downloaded it too, to communicate with the select few stubborn people that can't do me a favour and use a universal application.
 

Lkr

Member
I would also like to add that not only do we use iMessage in America, but we stand and clap when the message says "delivered".
I'm stuck with iPhone because I'm not giving up iMessage
 
USA os the only country that relies on SMSs in this day and age.

Btw, you cant send photos / videos / audios / location via sms.

Oh, and they charge you for it even though it's strictly inferior to non sms based messaging, which is free, and even though it costs them literally $0.00000000 to send a message
 

Jonnax

Member
Why do all you iPhone users only know other iPhone users?

At least half of all phones sold are Android.

Seems like you seem to stay in your middle class bubbles.
 

gcubed

Member
I love doing the Apple test.

Person sends a mass text about changing phone numbers or something.

You get a "thanks, got it" reply all text

Apple user

I don't understand this default behavior and if it wasn't so annoying it would be funny
 
WhatsApp.

99% of my contacts in Canada use WhatsApp, there's always that oddball sucker still using iMessage or SMS.

WhatsApp baby! Yeah

KOqepOC.gif
 

Coxy100

Banned
Personally never used whatsapp and never will. Some of my friends and family do but I use imessage to send pictures or an email if its someone without imessage.

They try to convince me but I have no interest.
 

Renji_11

Member
I am switching from and iphone as well but most to the people I message including my wife use Android so not a big deal for me. I never really used WhatsApp but I used to use Kik a lot years ago and loved it so I assume it's basically the same thing.
 

bachikarn

Member
The one good think about iMessage is that it manages your texts as well. Google hangouts used to do this as well but now it is only available to Google Fi users.

Don't really get why other messaging apps don't have that feature. Does Apple have a patent or something? Lol
 

diaspora

Member
The one good think about iMessage is that it manages your texts as well. Google hangouts used to do this as well but now it is only available to Google Fi users.

Don't really get why other messaging apps don't have that feature.
Does Apple have a patent or something? Lol
Because it's not worth it if it's just the US that uses SMS.
 

Sp3eD

0G M3mbeR
I don't understand this need for all the different messaging apps when the only thing people should be sending to others are texts asking where somebody is, happy birthday messages for people you don't give a shit about enough to call, and pictures of the tile floor in front of you while you shit in a public bathroom.

That is literally it. Built in text functions do this
 

M3d10n

Member
Wouldnt Facebook messenger be the best solution then?

You need to create a Facebook account, be friends with people on Facebook and whatnot. WhatsApp uses your phone number and contacts, just like iMessage does, except it doesn't send/receive SMS.

BTW, the actual reason the only messaging app that reliably uses SMS as a fallback is iMessage is simple: it's impossible to create a 3rd party SMS app on iOS, so the iOS version of an iMessage competitor wouldn't be able to receive SMS messages. It's 90's Microsoft levels of anti-competitive behavior.
 
This is the app's screenshot on the Whatsapp home page:

.

I mean, I guess it's not completely awful, but for a glamour shot, it's close to triggering my MSN PTSD. Contrast that to iMessage which is so much cleaner (even if Apple is doing it's best to clutter it up with animojis and crap.)

Yea, this looks terrible. Can't believe people are saying iMessage is an eyesore when they're using this. Sure iMessage has some useless bloat lately like stickers and apps, but that stuff is 100% optional. My iMessage is clean as hell.
 

Lkr

Member
Why do all you iPhone users only know other iPhone users?

At least half of all phones sold are Android.

Seems like you seem to stay in your middle class bubbles.
Basically every plan in the US comes with unlimited SMS. If someone has an android phone I can just SMS them through iMessage on my phone, computer or iPad. Facebook messenger is also popular here, moreso than WhatsApp in my experience
 

Jonnax

Member
the bloodlust in this thread over people who enjoy using iMessage is pretty messed up

I think it's more that iMessage is only available to Apple users.
When messaging to non iPhone users they get SMS messages. Literally technology from the late 80s.

Whilst WhatsApp is cross platform and gives the same experience to every user.
 

VanWinkle

Member
It always amazes me how so many iPhone users are SURROUNDED by iPhone users. It's not that I don't believe it. It's just bizarre. My dad has an iPhone, I have maybe two friends that have an iPhone, and that's it. And it's not that everyone else has cheap phones. A few of us have S8s, one has an S7 Active, a few have more budget phones, etc.

I also work in electronics retail, and, while a lot of people have iPhones, it's certainly not even half of people.

Is there anything that makes iMessage better than Facebook Messenger? Everyone I know has Facebook and Facebook Messenger, so that's what we all use.
 

Jeremy

Member
Doesnt everybody just use whatsapp

I've never heard of anyone using this where I live and it blows my mind that it's such a huge app. Not having iMessage sucks ass but Android users have always been content with blowing up your phone via a series of 14 messages telling one fucking story for so long that they deserve to keep that system in place.

Why do all you iPhone users only know other iPhone users?

At least half of all phones sold are Android.

Seems like you seem to stay in your middle class bubbles.

wow lol, absolute trash.
 
I am switching from and iphone as well but most to the people I message including my wife use Android so not a big deal for me. I never really used WhatsApp but I used to use Kik a lot years ago and loved it so I assume it's basically the same thing.

for one thing whatsapp accounts are connected to phone numbers so there are fewer pedophiles
 
I had no idea... that iMessage is the default in the US.
Does the iPhone have like 95% market share or something? No one cares about their android friends? How does it work across countries considering hefty roaming prices for SMS/MMS?


I still remember when I had my first smartphone, S2, and Whatsapp was getting popular.
Everyone, android or iOS, was like:
" Whaaat? A messenger app that doesn't use up my SMS or MMS?? And I don't need to fiddle around with logins or usernames as it just works with my phone number??? And I can send texts, photos and videos at no additional costs across countries??? And it works the same for both my android and iOS friends/family??????"

...didn't take long at all before everyone was only using Whatsapp. People just automatically accepted it as the best solution for everyone.
The only thing people were put off by was that 1$ cost/sub and even that was removed before it hit too many people.
 

RedShift

Member
iMessage doesn't even have a web client. WhatsApp Web isn't amazing but it's better than having to get your phone out of your pocket to text at work.
 
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