4 ms·
Please don't assume that wherever you live is the same as the rest of the world. SMS messages are not exactly unusual in Switzerland, and I've had at least a fe
by vinay427 5y ago
Please don't assume that wherever you live is the same as the rest of the world. SMS messages are not exactly unusual in Switzerland, and I've had at least a few friends prefer them in most every other country I've been as well. Naturally, MMS are somewhat less common due to WhatsApp's convenience for group and media messages, but conventional text messaging is almost mandatory for many 2FA services such as the vaccine portals in some cantons, banking, etc.
For instance, SMS seems to be preferred for online selling platforms in which only a phone number is exchanged. It's strange to add a stranger to your contacts for a one-time transaction, so I've often been contacted by SMS or email.
- andybak 5y agoI think GP was talking about the ubuiquity of iMessage as a "US-only thing".
- vinay427 5y agoRight, I assumed that was the main intent but was responding more to the specific claim that "rest of the world use 3rd party platforms to chat."
- fnomnom 5y agothe main online selling plattform in germany (ebay-kleinanzeigen) has a messenger integrated that everybody just uses for this reason. almost everyything else happens in whatsapp. yes youhave some people on signal/threema/telegram but virtually everybody has whatsapp.
- vinay427 5y agoYep, some Swiss platforms have a similar messaging system but others (e.g. Ricardo.ch, probably the most popular?) just offer contact information instead. It might also help that it's increasingly common to pay over the TWINT mobile payment system created by Swiss banks for which mobile numbers remain the primary identification method for private users, not to mention SMS messages used for transaction confirmations or login codes. Given the default option of a phone number for many of these private sales, an SMS is probably more straightforward than adding a new contact to use another app.