“It’s time for Apple to fix texting” • Hacker News Board

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

#351

Post by kelnos » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:24 PM UTC

danaris wrote: post #86

angryasian wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its definitely a compromise, but Google is ultimately at the mercy of the carriers. We can sit back behind our keyboards and criticize but it is a way to get something going. I don't think carriers have any incentive to improve this area, and probably nothing would happen

> Google is ultimately at the mercy of the carriers I mean...are they? If Google were serious about pushing a new standard, and were willing to actually push it on the carriers , they have plenty of money, reach, and clout to make their point heard loud and clear. That would be triply true if it weren't a "new standard" that was yet another transparent attempt to gather more data from users.

They don't even need to push it on the carriers. They can just implement their own siloed iMessage clone in the stock Android Messages app. They don't need to integrate with any carrier services to do so. Hell, simply moving Google Chat into the stock Android Messages app, and seamlessly switching between SMS/MMS and GChat (like Apple does between SMS/MMS and iMessage) would do the trick. (To be clear, I don't want them to do this, but they could.)

And even if Google pushed a new, better standard (than RCS) on the carriers, Apple could (and probably would) still refuse to implement it.

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

#352

Post by dataflow » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:25 PM UTC

blinkingled wrote: post #107

> iPhones make texts with Android phones difficult to read, by using white text on a bright green background. Wow. I can't really come up with anything creative to blame Google for this one. Whatever you want to say about Google's messaging mess and RCS - Apple seems to go out of their way to make it inconvenient to text with Android users. Also it doesn't sound like Google's asking Apple to give up iMessage - just t…

> I can't really come up with anything creative to blame Google for this one.

I got the impression RCS de-facto depends on Google servers in some way. Can someone confirm if that's the case?

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

#353

Post by asdff » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:26 PM UTC

trebbble wrote: post #212

Evidlo wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds horrible to be so locked-in.

We're not, so it isn't.

You just said 95% of your communication happens through one app, if that isn't locked in then what is it, locked in with visitation rights?

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

#354

Post by nomel » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:26 PM UTC

treesprite82 wrote: post #330

nomel wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Could you upload a screenshot from your phone? Searching images online I see plenty that roughly match the colors they're using on the video/website, but none as dark as your iPhone. Reference: https://i.imgur.com/PlGjjQg.png Maybe a personalization option?

Yes. Apparently I turned on the “increase contrast” Accessibility option years ago. I’ll be leaving it on.

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

#355

Post by throwntoday » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:26 PM UTC

NonNefarious wrote: post #202

blinkingled wrote: post #107

> iPhones make texts with Android phones difficult to read, by using white text on a bright green background. Wow. I can't really come up with anything creative to blame Google for this one. Whatever you want to say about Google's messaging mess and RCS - Apple seems to go out of their way to make it inconvenient to text with Android users. Also it doesn't sound like Google's asking Apple to give up iMessage - just t…

Apple commits many UI offenses, but the alleged illegibility of SMS messages is BS. Not to mention that Apple's messaging is hideously broken in more ways than Android integration. iMessage will simply delete your phone number from its "can be reached at" list, which breaks years-long threads with a single (iPhone-using) friend into inexplicable new threads. Ever go overseas? Try putting a local SIM into your USA pho…

I have quite literally never had that issue. I think people forget that Apple support a very fragmented and wide range of devices on multiple major OS releases and various version numbers. The long-term support period means some devices can be forgotten about even though they are receiving the latest updates. If you have found some edge-case bug, feel free to submit it. There is almost no other way for Apple to know and bother fixing it if you don't tell them.

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

#356

Post by aaaaaaaaaaab » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:27 PM UTC

simonjgreen wrote: post #289

aaaaaaaaaaab wrote: post #241

Ah, another "grassroots" initiative to adopt a "standard" (RCS) from Google! No thanks, I don't want this RCS crap on my phone. iMessage works seamlessly on my multiple phones, iPads, and Macs. Fuck off with that carrier lock-in trash.

It's from GSMA https://www.gsma.com/futurenetworks/rcs/

Originally yes. Today it’s Google’s playground. Much like the WHATWG.

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

#357

Post by paranoidrobot » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:27 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #200

azinman2 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s the text you send, not incoming, so you don’t need to read it much. There’s also various accessibility features to help with color across the os.

Not only that, but these are complaints coming from non-iPhone users, by definition, which means it is totally up to Android what color their messages are displayed in.

iPhone User texts Android user - the iPhone user sees their outbound message as green on white.

This is not up to Android, it is up to Apple how their UX displays texts to non-Apple users.

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

#358

Post by kelnos » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:27 PM UTC

jkingsman wrote: post #118

equalsione wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is god-awful. RCS is a technology that benefits mobile operators, not users. Also, Google really aren't in a position to lecture anyone on this topic, given their N+1 approach to messaging services.

Speak for yourself; I LOVE texting my fellow-Android-owners with RCS. My photos don't get squashed a la MMS, sending multimedia Just Works, and typing/receipt indicators are lovely. Maybe the mobile operators are getting far bigger wins, but as an average person texting my friends, it's great.

I'm just annoyed that it's opt-in, and still seems to have some issues. I think I converse with exactly three other people who use Android.

One of them works with RCS! Yay!

The second hasn't enabled RCS for some reason. (Or he has -- I haven't asked him -- but for some reason the machinery in between hasn't figured out that we're both RCS-capable.)

The third has enabled RCS, and the messages I send to him go over RCS, but when he replies, they go over SMS/MMS. No idea why.

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

#359

Post by simonjgreen » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:27 PM UTC

asdff wrote: post #295

pwpw wrote: 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…

Because of historical reasons. Americans had free texting for decades. Entire segments of phones were released dedicated to the texting experience with full keyboards. When the iphone came out it had unlimited data, but it was the exception not the norm, and it was slow as hell. People don't want to use data for something they already got for free, plus there's the whole network effect issue. Everyone has a phone num…

For what it's worth all the reasons you listed also apply to the UK market, however WhatsApp dominates here so I think there's a missing piece to the puzzle.

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

#360

Post by Lammy » Tue, Aug 09, 2022, 11:29 PM UTC

etchalon wrote: post #140

blinkingled wrote: post #107

> iPhones make texts with Android phones difficult to read, by using white text on a bright green background. Wow. I can't really come up with anything creative to blame Google for this one. Whatever you want to say about Google's messaging mess and RCS - Apple seems to go out of their way to make it inconvenient to text with Android users. Also it doesn't sound like Google's asking Apple to give up iMessage - just t…

The Green is historical, not a specific decision by Apple to hinder reading texts. Before iOS 5, and the release of iMessage, all messages on iOS were green. That Google is painting this as something else speaks to how disingenuous this whole conversation has gotten, in all corners.

> Before iOS 5, and the release of iMessage, all messages on iOS were green.

The green is inherited from iChat on Mac OS X, which used black text for the green bubbles: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/archive/revie...