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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”

#771

Post by gwilly »

angio wrote: post #266
RussianCow wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US market standardized on mobile plans with unlimited texting a long, long time ago, so I think this caused people to mostly stick to SMS/MMS for communication since it was the path of least resistance. I don't know what the situation in Europe is like now, but in the past I remember it being difficult to find plans without very small SMS caps when traveling. That could be why Europeans naturally gravitated towar…

Unlimited SMS plans have been a thing in western europe for the past 15 years, at least. People switched to whatsapp because you can send pictures, not only text.

The percentage of WhatsApp users across countries: https://imgur.com/0Jz527h

It clearly shows that people in Europe, South America and Africa are huge users of WhatsApp and only 18% use it in the US.

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

#772

Post by mantas »

int_19h wrote: post #762
nucleardog wrote: post #693

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are many reasons many IT folks actually prefer an iPhone over Android. The two biggest ones are privacy and security. I've been downvoted to hell for it before, but I'll add mine to this list because I don't _think_ it's all that uncommon either: I don't want another PC to administer and support. I've had a lot of Android phones over the years (started with the ADP1!). Taking my last one as an example--it sto…

The big difference between a toaster and your phone is that the phone gets updates. Which, aside from fixing things, also do stuff like change UI. On Android, when Google comes up with some new inane idea for the launcher, I can at least install a different one. On iOS, when Apple does the same, I don't really have a choice other than to go along with it.

You can refuse upgrade on iOS. Apple provides security fixes for some time.

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

#773

Post by dzikimarian »

altairprime wrote: post #59

Most businesses, consumers, and developers universally continue to ignore the primary reason that iMessage is a closed platform, rather than an app on every platform as iTunes is: Apple is using device serial numbers for anti-spam, supported by a fully-authenticated hardware and software stack that does not allow user modification. This permits Apple to simply “console ban” any Apple device that spams on iMessage. Th…

There are literally emails leaked, that say iMessage is closed, because Apple wants monopoly in this area.

Yet in every thread recently someone spreads FUD how without uncle's Apple protection, bad world will hurt you, when reality shows that's nonexistent problem on other platforms.

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

#774

Post by withinboredom »

kelnos wrote: post #623
rootusrootus wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

The spammers mass send an sms spoofing a number that has iMessage. When you reply, it goes to an iPhone in the spammers hand. That way they don’t have to navigate millions of messages on the phone. Using things like blue bubbles, they can even interact via api and use a cms

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

#775

Post by MattJ100 »

zaik wrote: post #748
altairprime wrote: post #712

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google closed down their Jabber gateway because they couldn’t stop the endless flood of spam into their userbase. If they had instead required device identifier attestations to accompany all Jabber messages, they could have left that API open for everyone to use, and simply banned device identifiers used for spamming. I wish they’d done so, instead of just giving up and closing their doors to Jabber.

Do you have any good source on why Google decided to shut down their XMPP service? I'd really like to read about it. Not sure about the spam thing, after all they also provide a federating email service.

This article has some context and links to original sources: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/google-talk-to-...

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

#776

Post by mantas »

comex wrote: post #653
altairprime wrote: post #59

Most businesses, consumers, and developers universally continue to ignore the primary reason that iMessage is a closed platform, rather than an app on every platform as iTunes is: Apple is using device serial numbers for anti-spam, supported by a fully-authenticated hardware and software stack that does not allow user modification. This permits Apple to simply “console ban” any Apple device that spams on iMessage. Th…

You can disable Secure Boot on a Mac and still use iMessage. In this state, it would still be theoretically possible to attest to some kind of unique hardware ID, as the Secure Enclave is still locked down. But even if it weren't, it would be good enough to just distribute a unique key with each device. Sure you could take it off the device, but who cares? If it got banned, you'd still need to buy a new device for a…

iMessage works on Hackintosh too

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

#777

Post by gumby »

kelnos wrote: post #615
alfalfasprout wrote: post #509

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you're missing the point though? Maybe your friends simply don't care enough to switch. Bottom line is iMessage works really well and people like it. Same with FB messenger and Whatsapp. You want to move friends to something else? There needs to be a selling point much larger than just security.

> Perhaps you're missing the point though? Maybe your friends simply don't care enough to switch. Right, I mean, that's exactly the point. I can't force someone else to install a messaging app I'd prefer to use. But if we had an actually-good, cross-platform messaging standard that was implemented in the default, stock messaging app of both Android and iOS, I would not have to depend on my friends caring or not. I co…

> But if we had an actually-good, cross-platform messaging standard that was implemented in the default, stock messaging app…

For billions of people that default is WhatsApp and installing it is as much a part of setting up your phone as is plugging in a SIM.

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

#778

Post by lokedhs »

rprospero wrote: post #526
deadbunny wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've not had a single SMS/messaging spam message in the last decade. In the UK if that makes a difference, maybe we have effective laws around it? Not looked into it.

I’m also in the UK and received two SMS spam messages last month, which wasn’t particularly out of the ordinary. Both were low effort fishing attempts along the lines of “You have been sent a package that requires the payment of customs fees. Please provide your account information at http://customs.uk.gov.scam.example.xn--horse-sw3b I probably get more of those now than the “we’ve heard that you’ve been in an auto a…

I'm in Singapore and when I read this I realised that it's been a long time since I received an SMS spam message. It must be at least 2 years. And even then they were quite rare (one ever few months maybe?).

I wonder what different telcos does differently, because I have heard about some countries where you're getting flooder by these things.

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

#779

Post by thomasahle »

bern4444 wrote: post #728

I can understand Google's frustration but they have no one to blame but themselves. Everyone is familiar with their graveyard of failed messaging applications (along with their graveyard of products generally). When I had an android phone, I tried RCS with someone else on Android. It never worked. I'm sure it's improved, but as the common theme of this story goes, Google blew their chance. I also don't trust google t…

> I don't want to use yet another messaging service that they've built.

You literally wouldn't be. You would keep using iMessage. All that would be different is that you could now send images and videos to Android users. Right now you have to switch to another app to do that.

This is not a '"standard" they've created', this is a GSM Association standard, and it would be Apple, not Google, implementing it.

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