WE FINALLY HAVE A FIX FOR YOUR ANDROID FRIENDS RUINING THE GROUP CHAT!

You’ve just made a new friend, and you’re adding them to the group chat.

And there you go, you just ruined it! Yup, your new friend got the latest Android phone. Ugh, Android users are a pain. Can’t they just buy an iPhone and use iMessage like everyone else? 

Actually, your Android friend is not the one ruining your group chats. You’re the problem.

(well, Apple is)

 

 

SMS & iMessage

When the first smartphones came out, they all used regular texts called SMS messages. Released in the 1990,. it is still widely used today. It is a worldwide standard, meaning that any phone manufacturer can use it.

In 2011—alongside the iPhone 4s—Apple introduced iMessage: a proprietary messaging service that looked just like SMS, but was more advanced: 

• messages were sent over Wi-Fi/ 3G/LTE/5G
• you got read receipts
• you could send HD pictures and videos

iMessage is easy to use: if both people have iPhones, they use iMessage, and their message bubbles will turn blue. If not, they use SMS, and the bubbles will be green.

People have come to love iMessage. At the time, it was the only alternative to the old SMS messages. Everyone knew that with an iPhone, texting was just better.

In 2011, the way iPhones handled texting was fine. iMessage was booming, and SMS was only used from time to time when talking to an Android friend.

10 years later, things have changed. 

We now all have smartphones that shoot amazing photos, and 4K videos. Android phones that used to be cheap laggy phones are now just as good as iPhones, and they take fantastic pictures!

Yet, there is still no way for iPhone and Android users to text their 4k videos to each other.

 

 

SMS version 2: RCS

That’s when RCS enters: the new and improved version of SMS.

RCS works exactly like iMessage: you get almost all the same features, but with one major advantage: RCS is also a worldwide standard. 

A little before 2020, Google announced they would roll out RCS to all Android devices.

This means RCS is compatible with every phone on the market.

It’s now been about 3 years, and RCS has been adopted by almost a billion active users.

Just like iMessage, RCS is enabled by default. You don't have to worry about setting it up, your phone does it for you. Chances are you already use RCS, and might not even know it. Here’s a quick recap of what RCS has to offer:

• Read receipts
• End to end encrypted messages
• Delivery confirmation
• Group chats
• Typing indicators
• High quality photos & videos
• Voice messages
• Sending PDF files
• Emoji reactions

 

 

Apple and RCS

Problem solved, right? RCS fixes it all? Nope.

Remember how I said RCS was compatible with every phone? Well there is one major exception: iPhones currently do not support RCS. They are the only smartphones that don’t.

Can iPhones support RCS? Yes.

Does this mean iMessage needs to go? No.

Does Apple want you to use RCS? No.

Apple knows people enjoy using iMessage. They also know RCS—being fairly new—is not very well known to the public. This means they can keep on refusing to add RCS support, and it will actually benefit them:

1. An iPhone user sends you a video
2. You receive a terrible low quality video
3. You and your friend think things would've been easier with iMessage.
4. Your friend then encourages you to buy an iPhone
5. You do. Apple's won.

And there you go.

Android users will either get blamed for the quality issue, or get pressured into buying an iPhone because they don't have iMessage, when actually Apple are the ones causing issues.

 

 

Privacy, anyone?

Apple markets privacy as a huge selling point for their iPhones. Yet, iPhones do not support secure texting with Android, all because Apple wants you to bully your friends into getting an iPhone.

SMS is not a secure technology. If your carrier wanted to spy on you, they could. SMS messages are not encrypted at all. The police could access them, even the government if they wanted to. 

With RCS, they just can’t. 

Your RCS texts are end-to-end encrypted meaning that only the recipient can decode the message you sent. If your carrier wanted to intercept your messages, they simply couldn’t.

But yeah, Apple doesn’t really care about your privacy. They mostly care about their bank account.

 

Free international texts

Yeah, I’m not finished. Texting with an iPhone is more expensive because of Apple. With SMS, texting abroad is a pay-per-use service. That means every SMS you send will be billed to you by your wireless carrier. Got any friends living in Canada, but you live in the US? Make sure you got an international plan, or your cellphone bill could increase pretty quickly.

With RCS, your texts are sent using either your Wi-Fi connection, or your data plan. That means no international texting fees. It just doesn’t matter where your friends are, or what phone brand they use.

 

“Buy your mom an iPhone”

Tim Cook—Apple’s CEO—claims iPhone users are okay with using the non-secure age old SMS protocol, claiming that he doesn’t “hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy in on that at this point”.

He has been asked directly by a reporter about the iPhone adopting RCS. The reporter told him about how complex it is to send photos from his iPhone to his mom’s phone. Cook’s answer was pretty straightforward: “buy your mom an iPhone”.

Great idea Tim! Let's all bully our parents into getting iPhones so we can text them.

Can’t send your mom your vacation photos and videos because she owns a cheap Android phone? Why don’t you get her a $1,000 iPhone instead so she can see your pics? That makes total sense :)

 

So? What’s the fix?
The solution is simple: Apple needs to support the international RCS standard that ALL phones are using. 

By signing this petition, we can show Tim Cook that yes,

WE ACTUALLY CARE about easy and secure texting with our friends.

• No more broken group chats.
• No more low-resolution photos.
• No more buggy videos that look like they were shot in Minecraft.

WE, iPhone AND Android users, need to show Apple that we DO CARE about secure messaging. 

WE must show Apple that we should be able to send pictures and videos to our friends without worrying about what phone they use. 

WE need to let Apple know that we SHOULD NOT have to pay extra when texting our friends and family abroad.

WE need to show Apple that we’re not okay with being treated like marketing puppets, constantly advertising for free the iPhone to Android users.

WE shouldn't have to tell our friends and family what phone to buy. 

 

 

Apple needs to do what’s right for their users. Not what’s most profitable for them.

If anyone at Apple sees this, show us that you really care about your iPhone users.