4 ms·

Is there any reason why iOS should adopt RCS?

by mikece 4y ago

_-david-_ 4y ago
So communication with Android can be better without relying on some third party app.
- CharlesW 4y ago
  Having participated in multiple group chats with a mix of iOS and Android users, the only time this becomes an issue is when some idiot tries to send everyone a large video file. Personally, I want that behavior punished, not enabled.
  - anm89 4y ago
    Yeah, those absolute morons, who want to send files over the internet. What a bunch of complete idiots.
    - CharlesW 4y ago
      Happily for me, MMS efficiently destroys the dreams of the kind of people who send long animated GIFs to group chats.
  - mattnewton 4y ago
    mattnewton liked “Having participated in multiple group chats with a mix of iOS and Android users, the only time this becomes an issue is when some idiot tries to send everyone a large video file…”
- mikece 4y ago
  I personally prefer 3rd party apps -- ideally those which feature end-to-end encryption -- to SMS/RCS/iMessage.
  - olliej 4y ago
    I mean iMessage is end-to-end encrypted so conflating it with SMS and RCS is kind of BS in the context of your encryption comment. Disliking the client apps themselves is of course perfectly reasonable, as some of them are annoying and/or have weird UI that seems to optimise for things other than "I'm talking to another person, not looking to use whatever your pet UI feature is"
- yftsui 4y ago
  Then next day news will say Apple is trying to kill 3rd party chat app by fencing it with Google using RCS.
  - cayennemover 4y ago
    Spammer’s life will be easier for bombing everybody, don’t see any other real benefits.
- heresaPizza 4y ago
  Imho if RCS ever takes over SMS it will eventually get to a point where it’s equally obsolete. RCS requires carriers to support the standard and manufacturers to build features upon it that its not guaranteed will work as expected on all the devices. As much as i hate private companies having monopolies over online communication on entire countries, at least their services are reliable, accessible from basically every device and constantly improving.
moomin 4y ago
Because they want to improve the user experience of their product. The next best reason would be “because they’ve been legally compelled to do do”, but we’re not there yet.
- CharlesW 4y ago
  > Because they want to improve the user experience of their product. I'm looking at years worth of conversations in Messages right now, with a healthy mix of iPhone-only conversations and mixed-platform conversations. How would my user experience be improved?
  - mattnewton 4y ago
    mattnewton laughed at “I'm looking at years worth of conversations in Messages right now, with a healthy mix of iPhone-only conversati…
    - paxys 4y ago
      paxys laughed at “mattnewton laughed at “I'm looking at years worth of conversations in Messages right now, with a healthy mix of iPhone-only conversati…
    - CharlesW 4y ago
      Okay, I lol’d. The good news is that Google now supports reactions since they fall back to plain text. https://www.macworld.com/article/610908/google-messages-android-green-bubbles-tapbacks-reaction-emoji.html https://www.macworld.com/article/610908/google-messages-andr...
      - mattnewton 4y ago
        Sure, but this is a brittle hack based on scraping text contents apple can change arbitrarily, and only a cosmetic one for the android user. The iPhones in a green bubble chat still see them last I checked, just, infuriatingly not the original sender who probably doesn’t realize how they are spamming the thread.
schmookeeg 4y ago
I think it strange that there is no conversation or talk about Android adopting iMessage -- is that something Apple has previously refused? I mean if you're going to dictate a standard to a duopoly, you need both to agree. I haven't seen the opposite side of this discussion anywhere yet.
- mort96 4y ago
  Well, iMessage isn't a standard, RCS is. Maybe Google could reverse engineer the iMessage protocol (if encryption and secret keys and whatnot doesn't get in the way), but they would have no guarantee that Apple wouldn't eventually change the protocol without notice or intentionally prevent unofficial clients. Besides, the whole iMessage system is highly tied into the whole iCloud ecosystem, and I don't think either party wants Android users to have to create iCloud accounts to use the messaging app.
  - olliej 4y ago
    RCS is a standard that was designed by carriers, for carriers. As such it is unencrypted, depends on having a carrier and phone number, etc.
    - mort96 4y ago
      That may or may not be a good enough reason not to use RCS, but it doesn't affect anything of what I said.
      - olliej 4y ago
        Yeah, I just reread your comment and I think I was essentially replying to something along the lines of “RCS is standard so is perfect” which is very clearly not what you said :D

Is there any reason why iOS should adopt RCS?

by mikece 4y ago

Is there any reason why iOS should adopt RCS?

_-david-_ 4y ago

So communication with Android can be better without relying on some third party app.

CharlesW 4y ago
Having participated in multiple group chats with a mix of iOS and Android users, the only time this becomes an issue is when some idiot tries to send everyone a large video file. Personally, I want that behavior punished, not enabled.
- anm89 4y ago
  Yeah, those absolute morons, who want to send files over the internet. What a bunch of complete idiots.
  - CharlesW 4y ago
    Happily for me, MMS efficiently destroys the dreams of the kind of people who send long animated GIFs to group chats.
- mattnewton 4y ago
  mattnewton liked “Having participated in multiple group chats with a mix of iOS and Android users, the only time this becomes an issue is when some idiot tries to send everyone a large video file…”
mikece 4y ago
I personally prefer 3rd party apps -- ideally those which feature end-to-end encryption -- to SMS/RCS/iMessage.
- olliej 4y ago
  I mean iMessage is end-to-end encrypted so conflating it with SMS and RCS is kind of BS in the context of your encryption comment. Disliking the client apps themselves is of course perfectly reasonable, as some of them are annoying and/or have weird UI that seems to optimise for things other than "I'm talking to another person, not looking to use whatever your pet UI feature is"
yftsui 4y ago
Then next day news will say Apple is trying to kill 3rd party chat app by fencing it with Google using RCS.
- cayennemover 4y ago
  Spammer’s life will be easier for bombing everybody, don’t see any other real benefits.
heresaPizza 4y ago
Imho if RCS ever takes over SMS it will eventually get to a point where it’s equally obsolete. RCS requires carriers to support the standard and manufacturers to build features upon it that its not guaranteed will work as expected on all the devices. As much as i hate private companies having monopolies over online communication on entire countries, at least their services are reliable, accessible from basically every device and constantly improving.

moomin 4y ago

Because they want to improve the user experience of their product. The next best reason would be “because they’ve been legally compelled to do do”, but we’re not there yet.

CharlesW 4y ago
> Because they want to improve the user experience of their product. I'm looking at years worth of conversations in Messages right now, with a healthy mix of iPhone-only conversations and mixed-platform conversations. How would my user experience be improved?
- mattnewton 4y ago
  mattnewton laughed at “I'm looking at years worth of conversations in Messages right now, with a healthy mix of iPhone-only conversati…
  - paxys 4y ago
    paxys laughed at “mattnewton laughed at “I'm looking at years worth of conversations in Messages right now, with a healthy mix of iPhone-only conversati…
  - CharlesW 4y ago
    Okay, I lol’d. The good news is that Google now supports reactions since they fall back to plain text. https://www.macworld.com/article/610908/google-messages-android-green-bubbles-tapbacks-reaction-emoji.html https://www.macworld.com/article/610908/google-messages-andr...
    - mattnewton 4y ago
      Sure, but this is a brittle hack based on scraping text contents apple can change arbitrarily, and only a cosmetic one for the android user. The iPhones in a green bubble chat still see them last I checked, just, infuriatingly not the original sender who probably doesn’t realize how they are spamming the thread.

schmookeeg 4y ago

I think it strange that there is no conversation or talk about Android adopting iMessage -- is that something Apple has previously refused? I mean if you're going to dictate a standard to a duopoly, you need both to agree. I haven't seen the opposite side of this discussion anywhere yet.

mort96 4y ago
Well, iMessage isn't a standard, RCS is. Maybe Google could reverse engineer the iMessage protocol (if encryption and secret keys and whatnot doesn't get in the way), but they would have no guarantee that Apple wouldn't eventually change the protocol without notice or intentionally prevent unofficial clients. Besides, the whole iMessage system is highly tied into the whole iCloud ecosystem, and I don't think either party wants Android users to have to create iCloud accounts to use the messaging app.
- olliej 4y ago
  RCS is a standard that was designed by carriers, for carriers. As such it is unencrypted, depends on having a carrier and phone number, etc.
  - mort96 4y ago
    That may or may not be a good enough reason not to use RCS, but it doesn't affect anything of what I said.
    - olliej 4y ago
      Yeah, I just reread your comment and I think I was essentially replying to something along the lines of “RCS is standard so is perfect” which is very clearly not what you said :D