6 ms·

I used to believe this wouldn't happen to me (I use Android phones without much issue). Then, last week, I was added to a group text for some party planning, an

by sevagh 3y ago

I used to believe this wouldn't happen to me (I use Android phones without much issue). Then, last week, I was added to a group text for some party planning, and the first few messages in the group chat were "who here has android", "who's the intruder", etc. Of course it was all jokey and no big deal but I still came away from that situation having learned that all this green bubble malarkey is very much real, and these were all grown adults (like, 30+ with children).

ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago
It kind of messes up the functionality. If you have all iMessage users, then you can do things like add more users to the chat, etc. As soon as one Android user is in the chat, then you can't do that. The other issue, for me, personally, is that I can respond to my iOS users from my desktop (where I spend most of my time), but I have to actually pick up the phone to communicate with my Android friends. It's not the end of the world, as my Apple Watch tells me when I get texts from my phone, but it is a bit annoying.
- psobot 3y ago
  FWIW - you can enable Apple's built-in text message forwarding to proxy those SMSes via your iPhone to your Mac - it's pretty seamless. See: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/messages/icht8a28bb9a/mac https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/messages/icht8a28bb9a/...
- dingnuts 3y ago
  [flagged]
- matsemann 3y ago
  It's not an Android issue, though. It's Apple gatekeeping it. Like for instance if they allowed Android users to use this Beeper app, the experience would be good for all users. Apple degrade the user experience to spite their own customers. Quite bizarre.
  - bronson 3y ago
    They degrade the user experience to profit off their own customers. Same thing with soldering down storage on Macs. It's really effective.
  - riscy 3y ago
    Then Android users have to download a separate iMessage app for groups involving iPhone users, since they can’t use their default Messages app either and the cycle repeats. Why can’t everyone in these situations just ask everyone to use one app like WhatsApp? If having good experience was important everyone would be on board.
    - freedomben 3y ago
      This is exactly what would happen, if iphones weren't so dominant already. The problem is, many people will not add "a second messaging app" just for one "green bubble" (which as an aside, is a great way to de-humanize "the others", something we humans naturally do. Robert Sapolsky's book "Behave" is phenomenal if you're interested in that). They'll just cut that person out of the group chat. Also it's not a "good experience" for everyone, not as much as just cutting that green bubble loser out. With no green bubbles, you get to use the default messaging app. With a different app, since you can't change the default on iOS, you have to have at least two apps, and many people balk at that.
      - riscy 3y ago
        I just want to know what Android friend groups are doing to talk to that one iPhone user? I get that iPhones are more popular in the US but in Europe where Android is dominant they (supposedly) all use WhatsApp, which is also not the default messaging app. Are Americans just too lazy to download another app?
        freedomben 3y ago
        It's not a problem for Android because every messaging app is cross platform. The only one that isn't is iMessage, so by definition this isn't a problem that exists. But also in the US, it's nearly all iPhones, so there just aren't any groups of Android users with one iPhone friend. More I think they are just really susceptible to marketing efforts by companies like Apple who tell them that it's a bad user experience to have multiple apps, and your own personal user experience is supreme, so people adopt and believe that. And for the people who don't, you can almost guarantee they have at least one "Apple fanatic" in their circle who will preach that gospel to them routinely. Then there's the social status symbol of "Apple" that has become a big thing in the US. The killer on top is the invasion of the social sphere, partiuclarly with younger people, where you are bullied and isolated for not having an iThingy, and you've got a perfect recipe for Apple. At some point I think it's got to come back around, but unfortunately that time isn't looking soon as it's trending heavily in the wrong direction right now. It's so bad now that "iPhone" has come to be a generic word for "mobile phones" and "iPad" a generic for "tablet." Just a few days ago I heard someone say something like, "Oh is that an Android iPad? aren't those just cheap knock-offs?" When this is the level of thinking in most of society, it's not hard for a company like Apple to manipulate to serve their ends.
- k8svet 3y ago
  Funny, I don't have that problem with Facebook Messenger, Instagram Chat, WhatsApp, Matrix, etc. I hope Apple can hire some smart folks to help them with these totally-not-self-imposed challenges!
- KolmogorovComp 3y ago
  You can enable text message forwarding on your ipad/mac. On your iphone, in settings go to messages > text message forwarding and select the devices you want to allow.
  - bronson 3y ago
    I've enabled it, both iPad and Mac, and found it only works maybe 80% of the time. When it fails, Messages shows the message successfully sent, but the recipient never gets it. It fails often enough that I can't rely on it.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- bronson 3y ago
  This is exactly right. Green bubble chats require more effort and are less fun. You can't leave a green bubble chat. You can't send messages from your computer or non-iPhone devices (Apple has message forwarding, but it's unreliable). Pictures look awful, videos look worse. Read receipts don't work. Tapbacks/emoji/stickers/memoji/etc don't work. It's a drag to remember all these limitations. I grudgingly got an iphone in 2019 for work. I no longer work there but now I'm locked into blue bubble chats with family. I've been trying to use Beeper to solve this it's not reliable enough yet. (if RCS wasn't such a dog's breakfast, I might make more of an effort. Even when Messages supports RCS, the experience will still suck)
  - worble 3y ago
    Why not just use whatsapp?
    - ethanbond 3y ago
      No reason not to except it's just not very big in the US.
    - stackskipton 3y ago
      Because in US, it's just not a common application everyone has so you get a ton of "I don't have whatsapp, just text me!" from friends.
      - standardUser 3y ago
        I've gotten almost everyone I know to use WhatsApp. Not switch necessarily, but use. There's only a few stragglers left. It's not a hard sell, at least in a big city where you're bound to know a lot of foreigners or people with foreign friends/family, so adoption starts well above zero.
    - Analemma_ 3y ago
      The other replies already brought up that WhatsApp is not common in the US, but I'll also add that if your beef with iMessage is the evil corporate overlord, moving to WhatsApp kinda seems like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
- ryandvm 3y ago
  What's funny is the Stockholm syndrome aspect of this behavior. "Oh no, our chat is acting weird because there is an Android user in here." It's like hostages complaining that somebody left the door open and is letting in cold air.
- standardUser 3y ago
  This is why most of the world prefers WhatsApp or Telegram. It can do all of what iMessage does, and a lot more, without forcing you to give one shit about what hardware another person decides to use.
nerdix 3y ago
And next time they'll just exclude you from the group chat altogether.

by sevagh 3y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 3y ago

It kind of messes up the functionality. If you have all iMessage users, then you can do things like add more users to the chat, etc. As soon as one Android user is in the chat, then you can't do that. The other issue, for me, personally, is that I can respond to my iOS users from my desktop (where I spend most of my time), but I have to actually pick up the phone to communicate with my Android friends. It's not the end of the world, as my Apple Watch tells me when I get texts from my phone, but it is a bit annoying.

psobot 3y ago
FWIW - you can enable Apple's built-in text message forwarding to proxy those SMSes via your iPhone to your Mac - it's pretty seamless. See: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/messages/icht8a28bb9a/mac https://support.apple.com/en-ca/guide/messages/icht8a28bb9a/...
dingnuts 3y ago
[flagged]
matsemann 3y ago
It's not an Android issue, though. It's Apple gatekeeping it. Like for instance if they allowed Android users to use this Beeper app, the experience would be good for all users. Apple degrade the user experience to spite their own customers. Quite bizarre.
- bronson 3y ago
  They degrade the user experience to profit off their own customers. Same thing with soldering down storage on Macs. It's really effective.
- riscy 3y ago
  Then Android users have to download a separate iMessage app for groups involving iPhone users, since they can’t use their default Messages app either and the cycle repeats. Why can’t everyone in these situations just ask everyone to use one app like WhatsApp? If having good experience was important everyone would be on board.
  - freedomben 3y ago
    This is exactly what would happen, if iphones weren't so dominant already. The problem is, many people will not add "a second messaging app" just for one "green bubble" (which as an aside, is a great way to de-humanize "the others", something we humans naturally do. Robert Sapolsky's book "Behave" is phenomenal if you're interested in that). They'll just cut that person out of the group chat. Also it's not a "good experience" for everyone, not as much as just cutting that green bubble loser out. With no green bubbles, you get to use the default messaging app. With a different app, since you can't change the default on iOS, you have to have at least two apps, and many people balk at that.
    - riscy 3y ago
      I just want to know what Android friend groups are doing to talk to that one iPhone user? I get that iPhones are more popular in the US but in Europe where Android is dominant they (supposedly) all use WhatsApp, which is also not the default messaging app. Are Americans just too lazy to download another app?
      - freedomben 3y ago
        It's not a problem for Android because every messaging app is cross platform. The only one that isn't is iMessage, so by definition this isn't a problem that exists. But also in the US, it's nearly all iPhones, so there just aren't any groups of Android users with one iPhone friend. More I think they are just really susceptible to marketing efforts by companies like Apple who tell them that it's a bad user experience to have multiple apps, and your own personal user experience is supreme, so people adopt and believe that. And for the people who don't, you can almost guarantee they have at least one "Apple fanatic" in their circle who will preach that gospel to them routinely. Then there's the social status symbol of "Apple" that has become a big thing in the US. The killer on top is the invasion of the social sphere, partiuclarly with younger people, where you are bullied and isolated for not having an iThingy, and you've got a perfect recipe for Apple. At some point I think it's got to come back around, but unfortunately that time isn't looking soon as it's trending heavily in the wrong direction right now. It's so bad now that "iPhone" has come to be a generic word for "mobile phones" and "iPad" a generic for "tablet." Just a few days ago I heard someone say something like, "Oh is that an Android iPad? aren't those just cheap knock-offs?" When this is the level of thinking in most of society, it's not hard for a company like Apple to manipulate to serve their ends.
k8svet 3y ago
Funny, I don't have that problem with Facebook Messenger, Instagram Chat, WhatsApp, Matrix, etc. I hope Apple can hire some smart folks to help them with these totally-not-self-imposed challenges!
KolmogorovComp 3y ago
You can enable text message forwarding on your ipad/mac. On your iphone, in settings go to messages > text message forwarding and select the devices you want to allow.
- bronson 3y ago
  I've enabled it, both iPad and Mac, and found it only works maybe 80% of the time. When it fails, Messages shows the message successfully sent, but the recipient never gets it. It fails often enough that I can't rely on it.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
bronson 3y ago
This is exactly right. Green bubble chats require more effort and are less fun. You can't leave a green bubble chat. You can't send messages from your computer or non-iPhone devices (Apple has message forwarding, but it's unreliable). Pictures look awful, videos look worse. Read receipts don't work. Tapbacks/emoji/stickers/memoji/etc don't work. It's a drag to remember all these limitations. I grudgingly got an iphone in 2019 for work. I no longer work there but now I'm locked into blue bubble chats with family. I've been trying to use Beeper to solve this it's not reliable enough yet. (if RCS wasn't such a dog's breakfast, I might make more of an effort. Even when Messages supports RCS, the experience will still suck)
- worble 3y ago
  Why not just use whatsapp?
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    No reason not to except it's just not very big in the US.
  - stackskipton 3y ago
    Because in US, it's just not a common application everyone has so you get a ton of "I don't have whatsapp, just text me!" from friends.
    - standardUser 3y ago
      I've gotten almost everyone I know to use WhatsApp. Not switch necessarily, but use. There's only a few stragglers left. It's not a hard sell, at least in a big city where you're bound to know a lot of foreigners or people with foreign friends/family, so adoption starts well above zero.
  - Analemma_ 3y ago
    The other replies already brought up that WhatsApp is not common in the US, but I'll also add that if your beef with iMessage is the evil corporate overlord, moving to WhatsApp kinda seems like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.
ryandvm 3y ago
What's funny is the Stockholm syndrome aspect of this behavior. "Oh no, our chat is acting weird because there is an Android user in here." It's like hostages complaining that somebody left the door open and is letting in cold air.
standardUser 3y ago
This is why most of the world prefers WhatsApp or Telegram. It can do all of what iMessage does, and a lot more, without forcing you to give one shit about what hardware another person decides to use.

nerdix 3y ago

And next time they'll just exclude you from the group chat altogether.