Apple Invites • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Invites

#471

Post by talldayo » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:25 PM UTC

briandear wrote: post #381

echelon wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everything is in the position or can afford to transitionally tax the whole of the internet itself like big tech. You're paying for Apple Invites whether you realize it or not. There's immense value in making their platform more sticky. In a few years you'll read articles about uncool Android kids not getting invited to parties. And that's your answer. One of these behaviors is way more insidious.

I don’t want the uncool Android kids at my parties. Because then I have to listen to them droning on about the kids of things Android people drone on about.

Compared to all the cool stuff, like... checks the news ...Tim Cook's political backbone?

Re: Apple Invites

#472

Post by whimsicalism » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:26 PM UTC

yumraj wrote: post #437

lordofgibbons wrote: post #362

I really hope this fails. Apple will use it's dominant position to create lock in like how they did with iMessage instead of cooperating with other platforms on a common standard. Oder friends and family are surprised when they want to video call over Facetime and find it hard to believe other people's phones don't have Apple apps.

But isn’t that the same when people and schools create effing Facebook groups and events or whatever they are called and find it hard to believe that people don’t use that crap. Or create WhatsApp groups and communities and so on and on.

sorry all of those things are way more acceptable than what apple does imo

Re: Apple Invites

#473

Post by ChadNauseam » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:26 PM UTC

zie wrote: post #456

NoPicklez wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Apple guy and I have to disagree, it's not the Telco's. Android implemented RCS and Apple dragged their feet in implementing the standardised platform such that high quality messaging was seamless and agnostic between brands The iPhone needed to reduce the quality of pics/videos to non-iMessage recipients because Apple didn't support any other form of non-iMessage messaging.

RCS is not really an open standard though. If you want encrypted RCS with android phones, you can't unless Google lets you. At least that was true last I checked. I'm guessing it hasn't changed.

It’s not as if SMS is e2e encrypted right? Is RCS worse in that dimension in some way?

Re: Apple Invites

#474

Post by ACS_Solver » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:26 PM UTC

nonchalantsui wrote: post #289

PaulHoule wrote: post #254

Even though "... anyone can RSVP, regardless of whether they have an Apple Account or Apple device" I think this being an Apple branded service is going to make this appear exclusionary and will mean some people won't participate even if they could. I see the same risk involved with Apple TV's branding; Apple TV works great on Xbox, on NVIDIA Shield and on PC. I'm sure though there are a lot of people who just decide…

The Apple TV one is particularly bad due to them naming the service, the box, and the app the same thing. One of them has a + tacked on, who knows which. As long as they don’t start naming other things Invite, they might avoid that issue. Although maybe they’ll name their HomePod with a screen that and we’re back to square one.

I very rarely interact with any Apple tech. Recently I wanted to watch Severance, so I signed up for a trial period of Apple TV. It even worked on Firefox on my Linux desktop. But I only get 1080p video, while my screen is 1440p. The show didn't look good, and I found that yes, you can only get 1080p if you're not watching through an Apple device. I would have been happy to become a subscriber of the streaming service, but not if it looks ugly on my PC, so I didn't continue the trial.

I'm sure Apple has data showing that offering higher-res video on non-Apple hardware isn't worth it, but this experience felt like a perfect match for the rest of my experience with Apple - if you want to use their software but not hardware, fuck you. If you want to use their hardware and software with a different workflow than they intended, fuck you too.

Re: Apple Invites

#475

Post by whimsicalism » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:27 PM UTC

zie wrote: post #456

NoPicklez wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Apple guy and I have to disagree, it's not the Telco's. Android implemented RCS and Apple dragged their feet in implementing the standardised platform such that high quality messaging was seamless and agnostic between brands The iPhone needed to reduce the quality of pics/videos to non-iMessage recipients because Apple didn't support any other form of non-iMessage messaging.

RCS is not really an open standard though. If you want encrypted RCS with android phones, you can't unless Google lets you. At least that was true last I checked. I'm guessing it hasn't changed.

who are you trying to convince? nobody in the know thinks this is a google problem, the facts are pretty obvious

Re: Apple Invites

#476

Post by lallysingh » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:27 PM UTC

Hackbraten wrote: post #464

chippiewill wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but at least those don't have hardware lock-in.

WhatsApp absolutely has hardware lock-in. You need to be an Apple or Google customer to use it, and you need at least one Android or iOS phone.

They have a desktop version of WhatsApp.

Re: Apple Invites

#477

Post by Evil_Saint » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:27 PM UTC

Hackbraten wrote: post #464

chippiewill wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but at least those don't have hardware lock-in.

WhatsApp absolutely has hardware lock-in. You need to be an Apple or Google customer to use it, and you need at least one Android or iOS phone.

Wow. I assumed you could use Whatsapp on the web but you literally can't. You have to have an Android or Iphone. I guess maybe there's a way to fake it with emulators on your computer but that's a lot of work that you shouldn't need to have to do.

Re: Apple Invites

#478

Post by chem83 » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:28 PM UTC

Hackbraten wrote: post #464

chippiewill wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but at least those don't have hardware lock-in.

WhatsApp absolutely has hardware lock-in. You need to be an Apple or Google customer to use it, and you need at least one Android or iOS phone.

You said it yourself -- customers have options.

Also, you forgot KaiOS.

Re: Apple Invites

#479

Post by whimsicalism » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:29 PM UTC

astrange wrote: post #388

TheDong wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does. If you try to send a photo in an inferior green bubble chat, you get an error. Face time calls don’t work. The text is harder to read for me because it’s low contrast and can’t be configured. It’s significantly less secure, and a government agent required I use blue bubble imessage to submit an important document for security, and wouldn’t accept it by sms or email since both were not secure enough

That should work now because of RCS. Email is secure enough though. People make up security rules in their heads all the time, doesn't mean it's true.

apple has intentionally handicapped rcs and it is still ongoing

Re: Apple Invites

#480

Post by bombcar » Tue, Feb 04, 2025, 11:29 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #331

ghaff wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole green bubble thing has got to be one of the stupidest status symbol things I've seen in a long time. Though I have no doubt there are many of them. If anything, it's maybe a good life lesson that many supposed status symbols are breathtakingly stupid to care about.

>some supposed status symbols are breathtakingly stupid to care about. All status symbols are stupid, that's part of the point. That has never mattered. It doesn't matter how stupid a symbol is, it can still have tangible effects on you and your life. Humans are social animals first and foremost, and are not rational in any way. Tribalism is literally the point.

It's not the bubble color; it's that (early) iMessage groups were much better than SMS groups, and so if you added a greenie it resulted in a worse experience.

That's not so much the case anymore, from what I understand (even the "reactions") work decently well, now.