Text plans still exist?
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9to5Mac: iMessage Reportedly Coming to Android at WWDC
- Thread starter Cheebo
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Text plans still exist?
If this were to happen I would probably end up getting a Nexus phones. Imessage is probably the one thing at this point keeping me tied to iPhone. Not being able to be part of group chats would suck. That's part of the reason I don't see them really wanting to do it but who knows. I pretty much use google services for the most part anyway. App parity seems pretty much fine at this point too.
-Pyromaniac-
Member
depends on your circle
lots of the immigrants in canada use whatsapp
then again a lot of them still use viber for some reason.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Even my prepaid phone has unlimited texting.
But only 300 talk time minutes. Which is like 290 minutes more than I usually use in a month.
And unlimited data with limited LTE. (Which is bullshit anyway but at least they don't cut you off. Just force you down to like 56K-like speeds until you finish your cycle.)
If only I could trade like 200 of my talk time minutes for 2GB more LTE data. Even though I rarely reach the 2.65GB I get every month anyway.
squeakywheel
Member
Bring cross platform Facetime and I'm pretty sure I can migrate most of my friends and family over to Android.
dantevsninjas
Member
Why couldn't you switch platforms? You can still text people with iPhones. What's the advantage of using iMessage over texting anyway, aside from it using data?
infiniteloop
Member
June 31st.
End of the month.
The Faceless Master
Member
receiving messages from people.
many people who switch have issues getting messages from other people and even following the steps that Apple provides doesn't always solve the issue. it's easier to stay than risk missing communication from others.
being on a mac, being able to send/receive texts from friends that have iphones on my mac.
This is great and all, but it also pretty much removes any need and desire to ever switch to an ios device
The Albatross
Member
iMessage is garbage, but this would certainly help people who switch from iOS to Android, because Apple has massive issues with de-activating iMessage accounts when somebody decides to not use it anymore. Even when they consider it "resolved" many messages still don't get through and users who have not updated iOS will still have their messages sent to a non-existent iMessage account that the intended recipient won't receive.
When I switched from iOS to Android last July my sister, who had an iPhone 4S and didn't update it, couldn't send me what she thought were text messages for about a month. What's worse is she thought I Was just ignoring her messages. Of course, she doesn't understand that she's not really texting me and she didn't get why it didn't work.
This could make it so that someone transitioning from iOS to Android could still receive those lost messages, making the transition easier. But every app that Apple publishes to a non-Apple platform is typically wet trash, so it might not be worth it anyway.
When I switched from iOS to Android last July my sister, who had an iPhone 4S and didn't update it, couldn't send me what she thought were text messages for about a month. What's worse is she thought I Was just ignoring her messages. Of course, she doesn't understand that she's not really texting me and she didn't get why it didn't work.
This could make it so that someone transitioning from iOS to Android could still receive those lost messages, making the transition easier. But every app that Apple publishes to a non-Apple platform is typically wet trash, so it might not be worth it anyway.
MacDailyNews. 9to5 just reported.
This is my exact issue. To this day I still don't receive group messages properly, because other people's phones still try to send iMessages to my phone number. There is literally nothing I can do about it. Very frustrating.
I guess this turned out to be false?.
andythinkpad
Member
Safari for windows anyone?
SmackCrackleNPop
Member
They abandoned that a while ago. I think Safari 5 was the last version on Windows. It wasn't very good
Sweeney Tom
Banned
Send Facetime next. Then I can finally call my friends without having to switch myself
dantevsninjas
Member
That seems more like a reason to never use iMessage than a reason it's superior to standard SMS.
Diprosalic
Banned
way too late to the party. whatsapp has filled that market years ago.
Are you from the US?
In some markets, maybe. It doesn't seem like anybody in Canada uses WhatsApp.
Kabuki Quantum Lover
Member
Everybody in Canada uses WhatsApp (except for you, your friends and me; me because I'm a SMS luddite and loving it).
NekoFever
Member
Huh. I know literally nobody that uses it. Seems like most people I know still use SMS (or iMessage if they have an iPhone, like me), actually. I'm not even old, either - I'm 20 and in university.
If this comes to Android, wouldn't the people on iPhones insist their Android friends get this to make their life easier? Why use 2 apps when you can use one
Diprosalic
Banned
why would you need imessage at all? nobody uses SMS anymore, i think the last one i got was in 2011, they made SMS practically free because nobody uses it.
You must not be in the US.
1. I'm not talking about as SMS, I'm talking about as data messages. As an iPhone user, I would rather my friends use iMessages if possible so that I don't need to use WhatsApp AND iMessages. It would make it slightly easier (assuming functionality is good)
2. Tons of people text in the US.
nortonff
Hi, I'm nortonff. I spend my life going into threads to say that I don't care about the topic of the thread. It's a really good use of my time.
Why wouldn't Iphone users use Whatsapp instead?
Because not all iPhone users use WhatsApp, whereas every single iPhone user uses iMessages
nortonff
Hi, I'm nortonff. I spend my life going into threads to say that I don't care about the topic of the thread. It's a really good use of my time.
And every single Android user uses WhatsApp.
That's not even remotely true, but ok.
You are missing the point, Whatsapp is not part of the stock android ROM
If you live in America more than likely not a single person you know uses WhatsApp or has even heard of it.
Only messaging that has any real pull here is SMS, iMessage, and Facebook Messenger.
TheCochese
Banned
citation needed
NOLA_Gaffer
Banned
Unless I want to pay 20 cents per text, yep.
That's not even remotely true, but ok.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Who? What company still does that? It's 2016. It's so silly.
On a different note I noticed today that the Android version of Facebook Messenger was getting SMS integration.
Eh, no?
Download textplus/nextplus and purchase a data only sim card from an MVNO. Save yourself money every month only text messages. Text messages are such a fucking ripoff as the original system began as an emergency communication standard.
NOLA_Gaffer
Banned
AT&T does. I thought it was only 10 cents but I looked it up and its 20 cents. 30 cents for media messages.
Like I said, 99.9% of the people that text me use iPhones so it's all good--messages from iMessage to iMessage users are free. Occasionally I get automated texts those, and those charge me.
Plus that one night my girlfriend thought it would be cute to text me from a friend's phone to confuse me...cost me about 2 bucks in one go.
That's the point.
badcrumble
Member
Never made much sense for Apple to do this. Not only is iMessage a loss-leading hardware differentiator, a big part of its value is that it's end-to-end encrypted and Apple couldn't guarantee that as well with an Android client.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Probably yes.
That's just silly. Charging for SMS/MMS in 2016. Fucking AT&T. I haven't paid for text messages in 7 years since I dropped Net10.
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