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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”

#811

Post by upbeat_general »

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…

If you don’t care about the additional RCS features, then aren’t you saying essentially SMS is fine? Do you prefer iMessage just since it is more secure (compared to sms that is)?

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

#812

Post by grardb »

simonjgreen wrote: post #333
kelnos wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a subthread about someone not from the US being surprised at the messaging habits of people in the US, so I think quoting a stat about iPhone/iMessage penetration in the US is perfectly relevant. The US "bubble" is the only one that matters in this particular conversation, as it's specifically what this conversation is about.

Nothing in the comment I've replied to quotes a stat or references the US, and nothing in the grandparent comment references stats or talks about the habits of the US specifically either. I'm also not questioning the relevance of any posted stats. I'm really confused by this comment, is it a mis post from another thread?

I don't understand how you're confused.

Someone asks:

> I still don't get why people use SMS/MMS anyway?

Someone responds:

> [I use SMS/MMS because] Almost nobody I know uses WhatsApp.

You respond:

> Your bubble is not representative of the whole world though.

Not only did the responder not claim for their bubble to represent the world, but it doesn't matter in any case. The set of people they'll be messaging on their phone is largely constrained to their "bubble." If nobody in their bubble uses WhatsApp, then why would they install WhatsApp?

As for the meta discussion revolving around the US: just because nobody mentioned it doesn't mean that's not obviously the central focus of this comment thread. If someone's bubble contains no WhatsApp users, you can be 99% sure that they are American. The US is the main place where platforms like WhatsApp have not been widely adopted. iPhones are extremely popular there, and iMessage is widely used. It's a country of over 300 million people where the vast majority of residents don't communicate with people outside the country.

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

#813

Post by doctor_eval »

formerly_proven wrote: post #759
dools wrote: post #729

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telstra kicked off RCS in Australia, but only on their network, then Google did one for everyone else, but it doesn't work with Telstra AFACT. Vodafone has this business RCS page: https://www.vodafone.com/business/carrier-services/messaging... and they "launched" in 2018, but from what I can tell still no-one is using it. There's a lot of confusion around it.

> from what I can tell still no-one is using it. > There's a lot of confusion around it. The story of every feature introduced by telcos in the last 100 years that goes beyond voice calls or text messages.

I seem to recall a similar picture when SMS was introduced. For many years, you couldn't text people outside your phone network.

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

#814

Post by upbeat_general »

gravytron wrote: post #806

So we’re just going start kicking and screaming because iOS users have a different experience than android users? Can anyone here help me understand why Android feels entitled to dictate non Android users’ experience? This seems like a cultural failure within Android that is a byproduct of their inability to satisfy their users. They have completely run out of cards and all that they have left is low budget low effor…

It’s a pain for iOS users as well. I have a friend with an android phone I want to message. We all have issues with the various 3rd party apps but her phone has solid RCS support. My iPhone does not (and cannot) until Apple implements RCS support.

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

#815

Post by viktorcode »

dcormier wrote: post #169
Angostura wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the most trivial complaint I've ever read. I'm in my 50s and I have zero problems reading green bubbles - it just means that it hasn't been sent via iMessage - if I send to an iPhone and sending falls back to SMS it looks just the same. I can't believe people get that upset about green v blue.

That’s very ableist of you. About 1 in 12 males are colorblind. I’m in this group. I find white text on a bright green background very difficult to read.

On iPhone you can enable one of several system-wide colour modes designed for colour-blind. Give it a try.

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

#816

Post by upbeat_general »

nemothekid wrote: post #121
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…

iMessage was released on iOS 5 with the release of the iPhone 4S. Before then, all messages had a green background. Somehow sticking with the default of more than 10+ years is intentional maleficence by Apple?

As an iPhone user, it’s very clear that it is done intentionally. The shade of green hurts to read.

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

#817

Post by dcow »

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…

What do you mean Android doesn't have an analog? It has both secure boot and device attestation. It has multiple APIs that can be used to design applications requiring varying levels of trusted computing context.

There's the high-level SafeyNet API which essentially lets you assert that you're running on a non-modified device running non-modified software in the context of a verified boot:

* https://developer.android.com/training/safetynet/attestation

It also has the lower-level Keymaster 3 API (since 2017) which provides HSM-signed certificates with the device attestiation extension, including the system trust level and verified device identifiers:

* https://source.android.com/security/keystore/attestation

* https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-bweeks-acme-device-at...

Microsoft is the one that's late to party... And your hypothesis seems pretty dependent on an argument that Apple can't build iMessaging on other platforms because they're the only platform with device attestation. That's simply not true.

If Apple wanted iMessage on other platforms, they've had at least 5 years to build it in the way you theorize must be required.

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

#818

Post by Too »

It’s funny the article uses blurry images as an example of broken experience and then suggests WhatsApp as an alternative, where image quality is absolutely horrendous.

Many of my friends groups stopped using WhatsApp only for this reason.

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

#819

Post by ptman »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #574
tcfhgj wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course fully encrypted

As of 2021-08 that doesn't appear to be the case > It however turned out that although the content of the message is encrypted, there is still a lot of user identifiable data that is not encrypted and can be seen by potential attackers.[0] [0] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266628172...

Message content can be fully end-to-end encrypted. Federation needs some unencrypted metadata. Some of it can be reduced, but some will be needed for federation to work. Signal probably needs less unencrypted metadata, but you lose federation.

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

#820

Post by ptman »

smachiz wrote: post #552
Rackedup wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is just ridiculous. I don't get random spam on Matrix/Element... it even handles video calls and more... Do you get spam calls on your iphone?

The number of people using Matrix/Element is so small and relatively sophisticated that it probably has a super low expected value for spammers. Not true for iMessage at all...

Matrix userbase is much larger than IRC. In my experience IRC spam is still worse, but matrix spam will grow more common as the platform grows. But matrix.org devs are aware and have some plans for spam. Distributed/federated reputation...
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