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One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

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Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#281

Post by mmcnl »

taylodl wrote: post #276
mmcnl wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted. WhatsApp actually uses the Signal Protocol. Probably the best protocol they could use. It's described pretty detailed in a whitepaper publicly available on the WhatsApp website: https://www.whatsapp.com/security/WhatsApp-Security-Whitepap...

You got me to look into this further. I was seeing if there was a backdoor - and it appears there isn't. https://signal.org/blog/there-is-no-whatsapp-backdoor/ Given that I don't see why more of us Americans aren't using WhatsApp! :)

Ofcourse WhatsApp is not open source, as opposed to Signal (the app). You can never be truly sure if the protocol is implemented without backdoors because you can't verify the code. But I agree, WhatsApp is a pretty solid app.

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#282

Post by nrb »

intrasight wrote: post #90

I've never heard an actual human express noticing or caring about the color of the bubble.

The main annoying thing when added to a mixed group of SMS and iMessage group chats is that you cannot leave them, or add anyone after the fact without creating an entirely new chat with all the contacts from scratch.

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#283

Post by ogab »

As noted in one of the article comments: One of the first settings I change on my iPhone is "Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Increase Contrast" for this very reason. It darkens both the blue iMessage and green SMS colors, but I mostly do it because I do find that green color "gross" and annoying/distracting.

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#284

Post by Dma54rhs »

ar_lan wrote: post #138
brokenkebab2 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't like FB well before it became fashionable, but I don't understand your logic here: what is that exactly that you can't entrust WhatsApp to send, but you can trust Apple, or your mobile carrier?

I'm not really answering your question, but in the States, there is a lot more trust placed in Apple over Facebook. This isn't that surprising - Apple has a much stauncher stance on privacy than alternatives. I wish Signal would be more popular, but it's just not. I can't really ask new people I meet to communicate over Signal because it's a burden to get others to install some new application.

DMing on Instagram is super popular in USA. Most of the people don't give a shit about privacy to begin with.

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#285

Post by protomyth »

computerfriend wrote: post #205
protomyth wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its ever so fun to have to deal with middle school with green bubbles. Apple is directly responsible for some kids getting bullied, but I guess it works out for them since we had to buy some more Apple devices.

What? No. Apple is at best indirectly responsible.

Apple knows exactly what coloring the bubble differently will do. The bully is just a marketing instrument to the Apple executives. Normally, I would blame only the bully, but this seems willful on Apple's part. They want kids to feel bad and tell their parents they need an iPhone. They don't give a damn that they're just another point of friction in people's days.

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#286

Post by milkytron »

idk1 wrote: post #99
jeremy0x4a wrote: post #56

Whenever I see this iMessage/SMS, blue/green topic come up I descend into an internal debate that, as I get older, I am becoming increasingly familiar with. The debate is that one where I am forced to reconcile whether I am too far removed from popular culture to see how this is a real issue versus accepting that the issue is entirely contrived.

It's certainly an issue with a lot of teenagers. Speaking broadly, social status and brands say a lot at that age, and you could miss out on friends or social occasions based on it. As an adult of course the green/blue bubbles simply don't matter, we grow up and realise that, but it certainly is a significant issue if it's affecting young peoples lives. So I'd say it's somewhere inbetween what you descibe, perhaps a…

> It's certainly an issue with a lot of teenagers.

> As an adult of course the green/blue bubbles simply don't matter

I disagree that the green/blue bubbles simply don't matter as an adult. I've had friend groups not include me in group messages because of it. Some have gotten visibly mad at me for having green bubbles and "breaking their chat". There is certain functionality that iPhones don't support in MMS chats that Android phones do (like adding a new member to the group chat).

It does indicate how people think when they buy into the stigma, but also I think it's a general lack of understanding around why Apple keeps iMessage so tightly coupled to its ecosystem and hardware. And many people aren't interested in gaining that understanding.

Social status is very important to many adults, and blue bubbles have become a way to display that social status.

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#287

Post by d23 »

jeremy0x4a wrote: post #56

Whenever I see this iMessage/SMS, blue/green topic come up I descend into an internal debate that, as I get older, I am becoming increasingly familiar with. The debate is that one where I am forced to reconcile whether I am too far removed from popular culture to see how this is a real issue versus accepting that the issue is entirely contrived.

It's a really really really short article. Really short. Please.

It gets to the point in the second paragraph: the green bubbles have bad contrast. It mentions the design of the green bubbles rank as "very poor" by accessibility standards.

That's why it matters.

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#288

Post by feet »

sangnoir wrote: post #268
computerfriend wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the opposite. You're now missing out on the valuable signal of whether someone is obsessed with wealth and class or not.

I have ascended to the even more-conceited plane of "I don't bother with social signifiers" (which ironically is a signifier in itself- but in my case, I mostly do not care ). Then again, I'm not currently in the dating pool, so YMMV

I know you aren't the GP, but if you didn't care would you buy an iPhone for social reasons?

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#289

Post by idk1 »

browningstreet wrote: post #122
idk1 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's certainly an issue with a lot of teenagers. Speaking broadly, social status and brands say a lot at that age, and you could miss out on friends or social occasions based on it. As an adult of course the green/blue bubbles simply don't matter, we grow up and realise that, but it certainly is a significant issue if it's affecting young peoples lives. So I'd say it's somewhere inbetween what you descibe, perhaps a…

> I have heard of people saying they won't date green or blue bubble people But how many times, really? It's like the missing iPhone headphone jack. The press and bloggers hammered away at it for years, making sure it was an ongoing meme in all coverage, but... do people really care? Some people, sure.. but enough for the coverage? Same with bubbles.

> But how many times, really?

Two people in the pub, I didn't know them well, but it comes up. What's interesting actually is the green bubble was not an issue for hook-ups, but it was an issue for long-term dating. I am talking about two people I've chatted to in a pub about this, and everyone else as well, so take it with a grain of salt.

Bring it up next time your in the pub! See for yourself.

Re: One trick Apple uses to make you think green bubbles are “gross”

#290

Post by brokenmachine »

chinchilla2020 wrote: post #118
oneplane wrote: post #39

This seems to be mostly a US American thing, mainly because of the same reasons BBM was a thing: lots of chats over SMS used to be a thing, and then chats over iMessage, which like BBM, you can only join if you have a device from a specific vendor. That means that you can only be in a special social circle if you buy the same stuff. That won't change because of some colours, because it's not the colours causing the t…

I agree that this is a middle school level analysis, but I've seen it a couple times in practice during my career. 1. In the dating scene, I have heard women remark that it was a red flag (Android users are stereotypically poor... despite a large number of techies using Android) 2. A manager at my old company was advised to get an iphone for communication with VCs. One of our old leaders had heard commentary from a V…

Not understanding that they've already been manipulated by Apple is a (slight) red flag to me.
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