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“It’s time for Apple to fix texting”

android.com

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

#621

Post by smoldesu »

eek2121 wrote: post #592
smoldesu wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s really oppressive that Apple doesn’t let you install WhatsApp, Secret, Telegram, FB Messenger or any other communications app beyond their own. They fully control those app's access to their store; Apple has full say over which communication apps you install on your iPhone, full-stop.

You say this like it is a bad thing. I used Signal, which is an open-source messaging app. If Apple were censoring messaging apps I would agree with your seemingly negative sentiment, however, as someone who has pushed out apps to the Apple and Mac app stores, I can say they absolutely do not do that. There are many reasons many IT folks actually prefer an iPhone over Android. The two biggest ones are privacy and sec…

Apple also collects timestamps for app usage (iOS and MacOS), tracks Spotlight usage and tracks your iPhone with Find My by default. This insidious behavior is widespread, and saying it's only Google's issue is comically hypocritical. Malware is a rampant issue on both operating systems, both iOS 16 and Android 12 have zero-click exploits that allow completely rooted control of the device.

I'd argue Google competes just fine. If you hate Google, then use AOSP or an AOSP-derived OS; there's not a drop of Google, Apple or anyone code out of the box. Of course, I'd wager that 'privacy and security' don't matter as much to IT folks as brand-loyalty or ease-of-use, so it's all a bit of a moot point in the end. Arguing that either of these OSes is more secure than the other is a bad comedy routine; they're both being spied on by PRISM, they're both vulnerable to NSO Pegasus.

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

#622

Post by Jtsummers »

minhdanh72 wrote: post #603

For me another frustrating thing when using iMessage on iPhone is that I often receive spam messages from unknown contacts, which I cannot block at all.

Click on the message thread, click on the sender at the top of the thread, select "info" for the contact, at the bottom select "block". Not obvious, I'll agree, but you can definitely block it (it should be a much shorter path). This works for iMessages and SMS.

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

#623

Post by kelnos »

rootusrootus wrote: post #258
kelnos wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like other people in this thread already get a lot of iMessage spam, so I guess you've just been lucky? And it shows that this attestation junk doesn't actually curb the spam problem, so it's just an analogue of security theater. Anyhow, sure, if you want to give away your freedom to actually own your devices, just so you don't get spam... I guess that's your choice. I just don't want to be locked into a syste…

> Sounds like other people in this thread already get a lot of iMessage spam Same folks who didn't realize that all messages show up in the same color, the blue bubbles only happen when you send . They're getting SMS spam. > I just don't want to be locked into a system where that's the only choice. Who's locked in? I can and have switched back and forth between iPhone and Android devices. My contacts are sync'd betwe…

> Same folks who didn't realize that all messages show up in the same color, the blue bubbles only happen when you send.

Doesn't seem that's the case. Folks have followed up confirming that the messages are coming over iMessage, and not SMS.

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

#626

Post by nl »

kazinator wrote: post #466
shireboy wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The gist of the article has been a soapbox of mine for years. We wouldn't stand for "you can only send Gmail email to other Gmail users" (Fidonet people know), and shouldn't settle for similar with messaging. That said, this spam angle is an aspect I hadn't fully considered.

How easily can you mail a Google calendar item to Google user, using non-Google software?

Very easily. The ICS standard is supported by everything.

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

#627

Post by dhritzkiv »

InitialLastName wrote: post #193
gumby wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd rather live in a world with spam than a world where corporations get to decide what I run on my devices, and cripple a bunch of critical applications if I decide I want to, y'know, actually do whatever I want with the hardware I own. It’s really oppressive that Apple doesn’t let you install WhatsApp, Secret, Telegram, FB Messenger or any other communications app beyond their own. While it’s all sweetness and li…

> “standard” tied to a phone number subscription that brings along all the retrograde privacy nightmares of Big Telecom since the bell system broke up. Is there a way to make an account with Apple that isn't tied to a mobile phone number? If so, I've never been able to find it.

In the past, AppleIDs could be created with only email address, and not phone numbers. I see that the current account creation step requires a phone number for verification via SMS/phone call.

That said, I don't believe you need to use that phone number for messaging – an email address is used as the contact information when messaging with iMessage. This is especially important for iPads/iPod Touches and Macs, which most don't have a cell phone number.

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

#629

Post by worthless-trash »

kelnos wrote: post #123
altairprime wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple could easily charge $1/mo or $10/year for iMessage on secured devices, with automatic refund and prorated cancellation if no secured device is signed in within a given billing period; and then discount $1/mo if one or more Apple devices are signed in and active during a given billing period. They'd make a billion dollars a month off of secured Android users, without exposing themselves to any new spam whatsoeve…

Hell, they could charge a token amount for un -secured devices, which I imagine could make things prohibitively expensive for spammers. I would (grudgingly, because the whole thing is just stupid) pay 3 bucks a month or so to be able to message iPhone users from Android without dealing with unreliable message delivery and ordering, and photos and videos pixelated to hell. I have a ton of barely-recognizable videos of…

> unreliable message delivery and ordering, and photos and videos pixelated to hell.

Unless I've been an edge case, SMS/MMS has been nothing BUT super reliable on my phones in Australia. Can you provide a demo ? I'd like to see what you're talking about since maybe I do have the photos and videos pixelated, I just don't see this.

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

#630

Post by username190 »

eek2121 wrote: post #592
smoldesu wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s really oppressive that Apple doesn’t let you install WhatsApp, Secret, Telegram, FB Messenger or any other communications app beyond their own. They fully control those app's access to their store; Apple has full say over which communication apps you install on your iPhone, full-stop.

You say this like it is a bad thing. I used Signal, which is an open-source messaging app. If Apple were censoring messaging apps I would agree with your seemingly negative sentiment, however, as someone who has pushed out apps to the Apple and Mac app stores, I can say they absolutely do not do that. There are many reasons many IT folks actually prefer an iPhone over Android. The two biggest ones are privacy and sec…

> If Apple were censoring messaging apps I would agree with your seemingly negative sentiment, however, as someone who has pushed out apps to the Apple and Mac app stores, I can say they absolutely do not do that.

Perhaps not in your country, but they've certainly done it before - censoring Telegram in both Russia[0] and Iran[1], for example.

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/technology/telegram-apple... [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/world/middleeast/iran-tel...

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