I need an iPhone because of iMessage. All my friends use normal messaging, and without iMessage texting is impossibly slow. I've tried to get them to switch to

I need an iPhone because of iMessage. All my friends use normal messaging, and without iMessage texting is impossibly slow. I've tried to get them to switch to WhatsApp but they refuse. It's a big enough deal that I'm willing to look past all of iOS's bullshit. But I'm not happy about it.