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It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

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Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#251

Post by esolyt »

slowraise wrote: post #90
esolyt wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really "on top of SMS" though? The way I see, it's just a messaging app like WhatsApp, Telegram etc but they just combined it with the SMS app on their platform. I am failing to see the additional value of combining them. If Google bought WhatsApp and combined it with the stock SMS app of Android, I don't think I would prefer that.

Personally as a college student, all my friends use iPhones still. I have always wanted to switch to andriod, but one of the things that really holds me back is the fact iMessage still feels leagues above how SMS and texting works on andriod. Many subtle features of Imessage really make a difference with the overall texting experience on the iPhone over the long term. Most of my friends do not have whatsapp, and we a…

> iMessage still feels leagues above how SMS and texting works on andriod

iMessage is a messaging app that uses internet. It should be compared to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, WeChat, FB Messenger.

It doesn't make sense to compare iMessage to SMS. Because nobody uses SMS as their main communication method. The only people who ever use SMS are iPhone users when they text Android users.

All this confusion comes from the fact that Apple merged their messaging app with the SMS app. This creates the illusion that iMessaging isn't just a messaging app but it is actually something built on top of SMS. It's just a messaging app that is not cross-platform.

> I don't want to go through other means to simply shoot my friend a quick video of something.

By "other means", do you mean installing a new messaging app? I'm guessing this isn't about the effort of downloading an app but rather it's about getting used to a new app and convincing your friends to switch to it.

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#252

Post by esolyt »

Jtsummers wrote: post #44
asdff wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iMessage is a vestigial product from the days when people had unlimited data but also only 400 text messages a month. It made sense then. It doesn't make much sense now.

It still makes sense over SMS/MMS which are terrible protocols in comparison. Even if you get unlimited messaging now, group and media messages are still remarkably unreliable.

iMessage is not a protocol, it's an app. Nobody uses SMS because everybody uses a messaging app. It comes down to whether you choose to use a cross-platform one or an iOS-exclusive one.

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#253

Post by m463 »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #234
m463 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Apple's chat.db has an esoteric schema" This is basically one taken out of microsoft's .doc format playbook. At first I thought Apple was slow and just didn't have time to get to some sort of export for iMessage chats. Mail had imap, calendar had caldav, address book had carddav. The original mac stuff did other standards like AIM and jabber. But over time I began to suspect, then later those internal emails expos…

> But over time I began to suspect, then later those internal emails exposed in the lawsuits made it clear - apple was holding everyone's messages hostage. Any source for that? I couldn't find any direct evidence for your claim.

There are probably better links:

https://texasnewsexpress.com/index.php/04162021-1249/apple-r...

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#254

Post by social_quotient »

s3r3nity wrote: post #128
social_quotient wrote: post #122

I wish I could have an ms outlook like interface for the long term storage of the messages. Folder per contact or group and excellent search, sort and filtering. Also could be stored offline or synced up with a mobile app. 2 apps I use for similar non iMessage archival are - x1 - for file and email search https://www.x1.com/products/x1-search/ - mailstore https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/

Nah - it's already hard enough to manage email + Slack, and I don't want yet another workaround to manage / catalog / filter incoming messages to me. No one asked for managing texts like we manage files.

They are priceless catalogs of entire relationships. It feels flimsy, or maybe flippant, to not be able to properly search and sort or archive.

Maybe not managed like files, maybe you’re right, but it seems like if we can make trillion dollar tech companies we should be able to completely solve this particular issue.

I’d frame texts as one of the most intimate expressions of dialog and journaling between people and families and friends. Just seem odd that this isn’t better.

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#255

Post by CRConrad »

KishanBagaria wrote: post #129
600frogs wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just took a look at your product, I'm very impressed and have added myself to the waitlist. I'm almost even more impressed by the domain name itself though - how on earth did you manage to bag that domain?!

Bought it at the right time from the right person :)

Hmm.... Has Julian M. sold tele.com yet?

EDIT: No, apparently not. Weird; we all thought that was going to make him a multi-millionaire.

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#256

Post by just-ok »

Arcuru wrote: post #95
just-ok wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can remember a term, any term, that was written in the message, you can search & jump to it directly. For my girlfriend and I, it was the bar we went to on our first date. This feature only gives you small subsets (a couple dozen, maybe) messages near the query result, but then you can just search for the last message again and get the next “page,” so to speak. Of course, remembering such a term is hard, which…

In the article they say that they have a screenshot of their first several messages and have tried to search for the text in the screenshot.

Hm, yet I have no problem searching phrases that go back at least five years.. I would say the burden of proof is on the author here to extract the database from the phone and prove that the messages didn’t get deleted, lost in an upgrade, or otherwise cleaned up.

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#257

Post by alexmb152 »

gman83 wrote: post #30
smoldesu wrote: post #14

We need a better communication standard. Apple made a killing selling their proprietary iMessage layer on top of SMS, but we could be actually making changes in this sector if we all used a standardized protocol. At least then we have a documented interface that we can choose to store however we want, or (perhaps wishful thinking) in a modular style. RCS is a great start, but I've already started to put my money on M…

I think that in America most people still use SMS, but in Europe barely anyone I know does, so RCS is basically a non-starter. It's all WhatsApp and Telegram (and some Signal). Like my kids sports teams coordinate everything through WhatsApp so I'm basically forced to use it. Would love to see an alternative, but getting everyone to switch would require a lot.

Hi gman83! Can we talk in telegram? my telegram @alexmb152

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#258

Post by OkGoDoIt »

anoncake wrote: post #249
cglong wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One underrated feature of iMessage is graceful degradation. If I'm unable to send/receive data for whatever reason, my message (and their replies) automatically fall back to SMS. There's been a few occasions where this was my only way of communicating important information, so I'm grateful for it.

Does this also apply when the recipient cannot receive data?

Yes. If the message is unable to be delivered to the recipient via iMessage, then it is sent as SMS instead. So for example if you try to send a message to someone and their phone is turned off or doesn’t have signal, it will eventually fail and then send as SMS.

This is all controlled via a setting in iOS iMessage settings “Send as SMS”, which I believe is turned on by default but I’m not sure. So your mileage may vary.

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#259

Post by OkGoDoIt »

esolyt wrote: post #251
slowraise wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally as a college student, all my friends use iPhones still. I have always wanted to switch to andriod, but one of the things that really holds me back is the fact iMessage still feels leagues above how SMS and texting works on andriod. Many subtle features of Imessage really make a difference with the overall texting experience on the iPhone over the long term. Most of my friends do not have whatsapp, and we a…

> iMessage still feels leagues above how SMS and texting works on andriod iMessage is a messaging app that uses internet. It should be compared to WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, WeChat, FB Messenger. It doesn't make sense to compare iMessage to SMS. Because nobody uses SMS as their main communication method. The only people who ever use SMS are iPhone users when they text Android users. All this confusion comes from the…

“convincing your friends to switch to it” is the real issue. Or remembering which platform various friends use and keeping that straight. And when you have multiple friends who prefer different platforms, figuring out the intersection of messaging platforms that they all use. Or when you have a friend on Facebook messenger but you don’t know their phone number, or a friend who can’t have WeChat installed on their corporate phone, or any number of other situations.

Re: It's virtually impossible to read old iMessages and they take up tons of storage

#260

Post by DavideNL »

ping_pong wrote: post #199

I think people should get in the habit of deleting all their convos that are more than a month old. Most convos are 99.99% worthless, and it's very freeing to be rid of them. One of my friends had her H1B cancelled and was given a 10 year ban from entering the US because of her text messages. When she crossed the border back into the US, the border guards requested her phone, and searched it and found messages to her…

Yea, i do this too. It’s a setting in iOS, you can auto delete iMessages after 1 month/1 year/etc.
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