Live data from Hacker News

“It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

android.com

311–320 of 1001 posts

Re: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

#311
post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard this issue ever raised by anyone in real life. I've only seen it brought up in internet tiffs about how Apple is using green message bubbles to "shame" non-Apple users. Which is similarly straw-graspy.

yes it is a thing, from January 2022... Why Apple’s iMessage Is Winning: Teens Dread the Green Text Bubble https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-apples-imessage-is-winning-...

That has nothing to do with the readability of the color scheme of your (outgoing!) texts though.

Re: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

#312
post #234

This is such a weirdly US specific issue. It's hard to understand why people in this country refuse to adopt a data-based messaging service such as Signal or WhatsApp like the rest of the world has. Why are US citizens so set on having a terrible experience when messaging half of the population? How did other countries decide that using platform agnostic messaging services are better? I believe the UK has a similar s…

A good argument I've heard is that in Europe, when people got their first mobile phone contracts, you were charged per SMS message, whereas in the US, unlimited texting was included in your plan.

The consequence of this was that in Europe, people preferred free online messaging over costly SMS.

20+ years down the line and old habits die hard.

Re: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

#313
post #205

This is a US thing, right? Haven't received an SMS from a real person (in other words, all SMSes I get are 2FA etc) for, at least 5 years, maybe 10. Even people who use iPhones don't send SMSes, MMSes or anything as obsolete (including RCS). Everyone just seems to use WhatsApp and Telegram (or if they don't know any better, Viber). Locale: Central Europe. So, why would anyone stick to the obsolete stuff? Are there re…

Because its better than chat apps. I can send a text all over the place. Cell coverage for nondata service is incredible, you'd have to be really remote at this point to not have it at which point you definitely don't have a data connection. Meanwhile there are places all over my city where I can't get a reliable enough LTE connection to open my chat apps let alone send a message, much less one with any attachments. Inside stores are especially bad with LTE. I can't even get an imessage out inside the grocery store. I have to defer to sms, but then it sends instantly.

Re: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

#314
post #104
post #92

Apple connect to our messaging platform voice, i mean messages i mean allo i mean duo i mean hangouts i mean...

Google acting like RCS is the hot new standard is pretty disingenuous. In theory it's a standard, but in reality most carriers haven't been interested and haven't implemented it so the vast majority of RCS messages are routed through Google. I can't really blame Apple for not being interested in adopting a "standard" that's mostly Google pretending to be a standard.

RCS is infinitely better than the current state. Google isn't pretending it's a standard. They're trying to improve messaging between android and iphone uers. Apple won't because the current standard helps their business. It's pretty simple.

Re: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

#315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Apple is going to be forced anyway, the EU's Digital Markets Act will be enforced soon. And fines are up to 20% of global revenue .

As an iPhone user I do not like EU dictating how Apple software should work at all. The same with chargers as well. Sure we can all have a discussion about how it should work - but having bureaucrats decide is the worst idea ever.

There's such a thing as overregulation, but when industry fails to act in an upstanding manner they are playing chicken with regulators. Here's the result. The way to avoid this is create an industry body to develop a standard and 'regulate' themselves. It looks bad when you do that, then also flaunt the standard for greater profit/market position.

Re: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

#318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny thing is the EU doesn't give a fuck and is going to force them.

I find it interesting how many HN'ers now think bureaucratic control of technology is a Good Thing(tm).

It's only funny when you break up a bad faith company like apple.

In most other cases it's government overreach, but ruining iOS would make the tech ecosystem better.

Re: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

#319
post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just took screenshots of an Android green text bubble and the https://www.android.com/get-the-message/ site, and used Photoshop's eyedropper tool to compare colors. They're the exact same shade of green, #48dd8f. But it's not just you! The green on Google's site looks visually brighter because the entire bubble is on a blue background. On iPhone, the green is normally on a white background. Now, try setting your iP…

No, not for me. I'm seeing much darker on my phone: On the page: #75d993 In the video: #58bf5d From my iPhone (iOS 15.6): #317332 Edit: scratch that! Apparently I turned on “increase contrast” years ago.

The background color of the bubbles changes in a gradient kind of way, depending on their vertical position on screen. That may explain the disparity you're seeing.

Re: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

#320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure, but why keep an inaccessible default?

Because it doesn’t affect everyone and aesthetics are not equal to accessibility? I do agree that the green bubbles aren’t great looking but thats what they chose for iOS even prior to iMessage existing.

> Because it doesn’t affect everyone

This isn't a good answer. We can use sensible attractive UI/UX defaults without being exclusive.

Post reply on HN