Apple is right to keep ignoring Google’s lightly-used RCS messaging mess

Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Android green bubbles will remain as it continues to ignore Google’s lightly-used RCS messaging mess. Cook said that Apple doesn’t spend a lot of effort improving the texting experience between iPhones and Android devices because its users haven’t been asking for it. Instead, he said, “I would love to convert you to iPhone.”

Michael Allison for Digital trends:

Let’s do a quick recap of what RCS is. It’s an update to the SMS standard that’s powered by a mixture of Google and a handful of global carriers. It brings modern features like typing indicators, read receipts, and high res image support to regular texting. It has been pointedly ignored by Apple, killing its utility as an SMS replacement between iPhones and Android phones.
Although Google has pushed for RCS to come to the iPhone and replace SMS time after time, Apple’s response has simply been a flat-out “seen.” The benefits are clear for Google. Being a “green bubble” wouldn’t necessarily be a source of shame if RCS were to land. Apple’s refusal here seems remarkably reticent until you read the fine print.
Only 20% of Android users have been estimated to have access to RCS… Secondly, RCS is not necessarily a less confusing experience. Although it is nominally a carrier initiative, it is almost wholly run through Google’s servers. Some carriers like AT&T do have their own implementations. It’s an unstable mess resulting in a broken experience where two users on the same phone but with different carriers could end up with different versions of RCS. Even Google’s touted end-to-end encryption is only a feature of Google’s Messages app, not RCS itself.

MacDailyNews Take: Yup.
Why should Apple do anything whatsoever to improve the messaging experience for those who settle for a stolen product, knockoff iPhones?
Apple should support RCS in Messages right after they make Windows the default operating system for Macintosh. — MacDailyNews, August 11, 2022
Those who saddle themselves with knockoff iPhones deserve to wallow in the green-bubbled swamp of inferiority forever. – MacDailyNews, September 8, 2022
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.

The post Apple is right to keep ignoring Google’s lightly-used RCS messaging mess appeared first on MacDailyNews.