The last time I used messages it made a point not to let me chose if I wanted to use SMS vs google own protocol, and I felt I was a weapon for google to bring m

The last time I used messages it made a point not to let me chose if I wanted to use SMS vs google own protocol, and I felt I was a weapon for google to bring more users to their ecosystem. The last time I used hello and duo they needed either a phone or a smartphone or both. For me a messaging system should not require to have a phone number and should equally well across a range of devices including Linux desktop. Hangouts and zoom can do it, why would other apps not do it?