When it comes to messaging, Apple is a strange bird. All common chat services work cross-platform, except Apple's iMessage. Chatting with a group of friends is only possible if everyone has an iPhone. During the hours-long Facebook outage earlier this week, switching to iMessage was not a solution for many people. The outage also highlighted how dependent we have become on one company. There is a cross-platform solution, called Rich Communication Services (RCS), also known as the successor to SMS. But here too, Apple is the one who is bothering, because it doesn't work on iPhones. Google CEO Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president of platforms and ecosystems, has now issued an open invitation to “the folks” from Apple.
Lockheimer did not mention Apple by name, but it is clear which company is not yet participating in RCS: Apple. The reason was quite special: the conversation was about professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau, who is the only one in his group to use an Android device. His chats appear as green bubbles in iMessage, which Apple and Android users alike hate, as we wrote back in 2015.
Lockheimer responded with a pun: < /p>
Group chats don't have to break like this. There is a ‘Really Clear Solution’. Here's an open invitation to those who can put this right: we're here to help.
That Really Clear Solution is obviously RCS, which is on its way to becoming the default messaging system on Android become, especially in the US. Google has signed deals with the three major US carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to ship Google's messaging app (mét RCS) as standard on all Android devices. Just like with popular chat services, you then have the option to receive receipts and stickers and see when someone is typing. It is also much more secure thanks to end-to-end encryption. However, if you send a message to an iPhone, it will be converted to a standard SMS. Apple could easily join but seems happy with the blue/green bubbles. And things are not going so smoothly with the Dutch providers either: only Vodafone offers it.