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Who uses sms anymore these days? I tried to go back to a non-smart phone, but it was impossible due to not having whatsapp. That might be a 'local' thing thoug

Who uses sms anymore these days? I tried to go back to a non-smart phone, but it was impossible due to not having whatsapp. That might be a 'local' thing though, not sure. Anyway, they should just release imessage for android; that would piss off meta too, which is a win in my book ;)

r2_pilot 4y ago
I use and prefer that others use SMS for messaging me. I do have other communication apps, but by far and away SMS is my daily driver.
pjmlp 4y ago
Plenty of people in Europe with our pre-pay SIM cards, having like 5 000 free SMS per month, minimum.
- tinus_hn 4y ago
  I have infinite free SMS per month and I uses less than 1 a month. In Europe everyone uses WhatsApp.
  - mrweasel 4y ago
    > In Europe everyone uses WhatsApp. That's a bit of an overstatement and really depend on who you ask. I'd say that no-one uses WhatsApp. I know exactly two people who uses WhatsApp, but that also not representative of their actual marketshare.
    - tinus_hn 4y ago
      https://www.similarweb.com/corp/blog/research/market-research/worldwide-messaging-apps/ https://www.similarweb.com/corp/blog/research/market-researc... I see that it’s more limited to Western Europe but it really is dominant in a lot of markets. But that’s not really the point, the point is that also in the markets where the network effect causes the majority of people to use Telegram, Viber or Facebook Messenger, they’re mostly not using SMS, because even if it is free, a messenger service is better.
  - pjmlp 4y ago
    Except I know people that never touched WhatsApp, so no not everyone. Also all my contacts on Balkan countries rather go with Viber, so, nope not everyone.
s17n 4y ago
Everyone in the US (if there is at least one android user in the chat)
- KMnO4 4y ago
  I have dozens of group chats with iPhone, Android, and even PC users. We never encounter any of the limitations of SMS, for the same reason we can drive across the country and don’t have to constantly scan for new radio channels. It’s just not a technology that we use. SMS is the old, WhatsApp/Telegram/Messenger/Signal/Discord/etc is the new.
  - timdavila 4y ago
    So I have to replace the native messaging app that's decentralized, well proven, reliable, and pre-installed on every phone that can communicate with anyone in the world for 5 different centralized apps from the app store that may or may not exist next year and also try to move my entire network over? No thanks, I'll stick to SMS.
    - ZacharyPitts 4y ago
      SMS that is not usable from all my other non-phone computers! For this reason alone, I greatly prefer iMessage/discord/slack/whateverIsNext so I can use it on my phone and my computers.
      - timdavila 4y ago
        I use iMessage. It's great, and doesn't get in the way. And as I said it's included on my phone. It also allows me to communicate with anyone and I don't have to think about if the person I'm contacting has it installed or not, it gracefully degrades to SMS when needed. That's a great messaging app!
      - kelnos 4y ago
        While I do have browser tabs open for WhatsApp, Google Chat, and GroupMe, as well as the Signal desktop app running, most people I know do not do this, and do most/all of their messaging from their phone. I get that's not your experience, but it is indeed an experience that exists, and is probably fairly common.
mrweasel 4y ago
> Who uses sms anymore these days? Most people? But yeah, it's a local thing. Denmark have had free SMS for something like 20 years, at least as an optional add-on to your subscription. So there where never a reason to move to something else. If you frequently used SMS you just paid the small free for a large number of SMS message, or even unlimited. Current subscriptions pretty much all have free SMS. When smartphones arrived, most just use the built in messing app. On the iPhone that means that you use iMessage, but it's not something you think about. If you took the average Danish iMessage user and asked them, they'd just say it's SMS. I don't know that I would want Apple to just dominate the messaging market, but iMessage on Android would kill of many of the existing platforms pretty quickly.
PaulsWallet 4y ago
I absolutely use SMS. I use Android and don't have Facebook or Whatsapp so if you want to text me you are gonna use SMS.
thefz 4y ago
Agree. SMS is relegated to 2FA and before today I did not even know that Apple had a special SMS application for its users.
mongol 4y ago
It's the only texting solution you can be sure to know works if you just have a phone number. So in these situations, it is the best choice.
Vomzor 4y ago
wejick 4y ago
I dont remember when the last time sending message via SMS. You will not be able to find message app on my android launcher because I hide it, and many people in my circle never really open it other than to read spam message from operator. So yeah most of the time whatsapp and telegram 100% of my circle. SMS is a thing from the past, I guess the gen z here don't even understand what's SMS. (someone from SEA region)

r2_pilot 4y ago

I use and prefer that others use SMS for messaging me. I do have other communication apps, but by far and away SMS is my daily driver.

pjmlp 4y ago

Plenty of people in Europe with our pre-pay SIM cards, having like 5 000 free SMS per month, minimum.

tinus_hn 4y ago
I have infinite free SMS per month and I uses less than 1 a month. In Europe everyone uses WhatsApp.
- mrweasel 4y ago
  > In Europe everyone uses WhatsApp. That's a bit of an overstatement and really depend on who you ask. I'd say that no-one uses WhatsApp. I know exactly two people who uses WhatsApp, but that also not representative of their actual marketshare.
  - tinus_hn 4y ago
    https://www.similarweb.com/corp/blog/research/market-research/worldwide-messaging-apps/ https://www.similarweb.com/corp/blog/research/market-researc... I see that it’s more limited to Western Europe but it really is dominant in a lot of markets. But that’s not really the point, the point is that also in the markets where the network effect causes the majority of people to use Telegram, Viber or Facebook Messenger, they’re mostly not using SMS, because even if it is free, a messenger service is better.
- pjmlp 4y ago
  Except I know people that never touched WhatsApp, so no not everyone. Also all my contacts on Balkan countries rather go with Viber, so, nope not everyone.

s17n 4y ago

Everyone in the US (if there is at least one android user in the chat)

KMnO4 4y ago
I have dozens of group chats with iPhone, Android, and even PC users. We never encounter any of the limitations of SMS, for the same reason we can drive across the country and don’t have to constantly scan for new radio channels. It’s just not a technology that we use. SMS is the old, WhatsApp/Telegram/Messenger/Signal/Discord/etc is the new.
- timdavila 4y ago
  So I have to replace the native messaging app that's decentralized, well proven, reliable, and pre-installed on every phone that can communicate with anyone in the world for 5 different centralized apps from the app store that may or may not exist next year and also try to move my entire network over? No thanks, I'll stick to SMS.
  - ZacharyPitts 4y ago
    SMS that is not usable from all my other non-phone computers! For this reason alone, I greatly prefer iMessage/discord/slack/whateverIsNext so I can use it on my phone and my computers.
    - timdavila 4y ago
      I use iMessage. It's great, and doesn't get in the way. And as I said it's included on my phone. It also allows me to communicate with anyone and I don't have to think about if the person I'm contacting has it installed or not, it gracefully degrades to SMS when needed. That's a great messaging app!
    - kelnos 4y ago
      While I do have browser tabs open for WhatsApp, Google Chat, and GroupMe, as well as the Signal desktop app running, most people I know do not do this, and do most/all of their messaging from their phone. I get that's not your experience, but it is indeed an experience that exists, and is probably fairly common.

mrweasel 4y ago

> Who uses sms anymore these days? Most people? But yeah, it's a local thing. Denmark have had free SMS for something like 20 years, at least as an optional add-on to your subscription. So there where never a reason to move to something else. If you frequently used SMS you just paid the small free for a large number of SMS message, or even unlimited. Current subscriptions pretty much all have free SMS. When smartphones arrived, most just use the built in messing app. On the iPhone that means that you use iMessage, but it's not something you think about. If you took the average Danish iMessage user and asked them, they'd just say it's SMS. I don't know that I would want Apple to just dominate the messaging market, but iMessage on Android would kill of many of the existing platforms pretty quickly.

PaulsWallet 4y ago

I absolutely use SMS. I use Android and don't have Facebook or Whatsapp so if you want to text me you are gonna use SMS.

thefz 4y ago

Agree. SMS is relegated to 2FA and before today I did not even know that Apple had a special SMS application for its users.

mongol 4y ago

It's the only texting solution you can be sure to know works if you just have a phone number. So in these situations, it is the best choice.

Vomzor 4y ago

wejick 4y ago

I dont remember when the last time sending message via SMS. You will not be able to find message app on my android launcher because I hide it, and many people in my circle never really open it other than to read spam message from operator. So yeah most of the time whatsapp and telegram 100% of my circle. SMS is a thing from the past, I guess the gen z here don't even understand what's SMS. (someone from SEA region)