Before moving to the EU I mostly used Hangouts/SMS, but now that I'm back in the US I use a mixture of Hangouts/WhatsApp. I knew a few people in school with iPh

Before moving to the EU I mostly used Hangouts/SMS, but now that I'm back in the US I use a mixture of Hangouts/WhatsApp. I knew a few people in school with iPhones but only a few of them used iMessage over Hangouts. I think the most popular apps in school for group messages were apps specifically for group messaging, and I can't even remember the names of any because they were so short-lived. The one I used most had a blue speech bubble icon with a # in the middle. I'd put big money that Facebook Messenger fills that void now. My guess is the majority of SMS usage in the US nowadays is just 2fa and automated messages, with the occasional text to an acquaintance until you add them somewhere else.