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I totally don't get this perspective. There are so many competing messaging platforms and they all work reasonably well on iOS. Because my various family and fr

I totally don't get this perspective. There are so many competing messaging platforms and they all work reasonably well on iOS. Because my various family and friend groups use different messaging apps I use all the following: WhatsApp, Signal, SMS, iMessage, Viber, and once in a while Facebook Messenger. I would say iMessage is kind of middle of the pack here. If I had to pick a favourite it's probably WhatsApp, but unfortunately it's owned by Meta - so I try to use Signal whenever I can. What's so special about iMessage that people think it's a monopolistic tool?

Workaccount2 3y ago
Its the default iPhone messenger and it works really well when messaging your friends and family, who all also have iphones because it works really well when messaging your friends and family. HN chronically forgets that the average american cell phone user might know what iMessage actually is. Nevermind even having the faintest idea what a WhatsApp is. Or ever even heard of signal.
supergeek133 3y ago
Are your various friends/family all tech-y people? My "normal" friends and family are majority iPhone users. I'm Android. I "literally ruin" their group texts. I've seen people actually reject relationships because they don't date people with "green bubbles". Don't even get me started about work group texts. I know restaurants where some of the servers have group iMessage chats with customers for early notification about nightly specials, Android users literally can't be added. Likely not maliciously, but this has created almost a "second/lower class" of phone users that encompasses ~50% of the country.
- AlexandrB 3y ago
  > Are your various friends/family all tech-y people? Not at all. A few of my friends are techies and they use Android/iPhone about 50/50. Family is mixed as well. No one in family uses iMessage. > I've seen people actually reject relationships because they don't date people with "green bubbles". This seems like a feature, not a bug. I don't think you want to date someone who makes important life choices based on Apple marketing. Edit: Is this a "Bay Area" problem or something? Or maybe a "young people" problem? I just can't imagine caring about whether someone messages me with "blue" or "green" text bubbles.
  - supergeek133 3y ago
    I'm not saying I run into these people, and I agree with your take. > Not at all. A few of my friends are techies and they use Android/iPhone about 50/50. Family is mixed as well. No one in family uses iMessage. I would bet money this is the opposite of the majority experience.
    - AlexandrB 3y ago
      > I would bet money this is the opposite of the majority experience. As with ICQ/AIM/MSN Messenger back in the early 2000s I bet it's regional. WhatsApp seems extremely popular in my age/peer group where I live.
      - Workaccount2 3y ago
        So you don't live in the US?
        AlexandrB 3y ago
        Canada, which is usually broadly similar to the US market.
- sevagh 3y ago
  >Likely not maliciously Why?
- khazhoux 3y ago
  > I've seen people actually reject relationships because they don't date people with "green bubbles". No, that's stupid. Sorry, not trying to be a jerk, but there's no other way to put it: that's just stupid and not worth any consideration in this argument. Even putting aside the unlikelihood of what kind of idiot would someone have to be to reject a relationship with an Android user, the basic premise of caring about blue vs green is too shallow to form as any basis of a massive suit like this. "Apple must be broken up because people think my Android phone isn't cool" ??
  - supergeek133 3y ago
    But this cultural issue is literally quoted in the DOJ complaint against Apple. Apple, by overlaying iMessage features over SMS and only accessible to iPhone users have created a virtual second class of phone users.
- thomasahle 3y ago
  > I "literally ruin" their group texts. I've seen people actually reject relationships because they don't date people with "green bubbles". Yup. We all get this. It's the most effective social lock in ever invented.
npteljes 3y ago
> There are so many competing messaging platforms and they all work reasonably well on iOS And I'd love to have all of them opened up.

Workaccount2 3y ago

Its the default iPhone messenger and it works really well when messaging your friends and family, who all also have iphones because it works really well when messaging your friends and family. HN chronically forgets that the average american cell phone user might know what iMessage actually is. Nevermind even having the faintest idea what a WhatsApp is. Or ever even heard of signal.

supergeek133 3y ago

Are your various friends/family all tech-y people? My "normal" friends and family are majority iPhone users. I'm Android. I "literally ruin" their group texts. I've seen people actually reject relationships because they don't date people with "green bubbles". Don't even get me started about work group texts. I know restaurants where some of the servers have group iMessage chats with customers for early notification about nightly specials, Android users literally can't be added. Likely not maliciously, but this has created almost a "second/lower class" of phone users that encompasses ~50% of the country.

AlexandrB 3y ago
> Are your various friends/family all tech-y people? Not at all. A few of my friends are techies and they use Android/iPhone about 50/50. Family is mixed as well. No one in family uses iMessage. > I've seen people actually reject relationships because they don't date people with "green bubbles". This seems like a feature, not a bug. I don't think you want to date someone who makes important life choices based on Apple marketing. Edit: Is this a "Bay Area" problem or something? Or maybe a "young people" problem? I just can't imagine caring about whether someone messages me with "blue" or "green" text bubbles.
- supergeek133 3y ago
  I'm not saying I run into these people, and I agree with your take. > Not at all. A few of my friends are techies and they use Android/iPhone about 50/50. Family is mixed as well. No one in family uses iMessage. I would bet money this is the opposite of the majority experience.
  - AlexandrB 3y ago
    > I would bet money this is the opposite of the majority experience. As with ICQ/AIM/MSN Messenger back in the early 2000s I bet it's regional. WhatsApp seems extremely popular in my age/peer group where I live.
    - Workaccount2 3y ago
      So you don't live in the US?
      - AlexandrB 3y ago
        Canada, which is usually broadly similar to the US market.
sevagh 3y ago
>Likely not maliciously Why?
khazhoux 3y ago
> I've seen people actually reject relationships because they don't date people with "green bubbles". No, that's stupid. Sorry, not trying to be a jerk, but there's no other way to put it: that's just stupid and not worth any consideration in this argument. Even putting aside the unlikelihood of what kind of idiot would someone have to be to reject a relationship with an Android user, the basic premise of caring about blue vs green is too shallow to form as any basis of a massive suit like this. "Apple must be broken up because people think my Android phone isn't cool" ??
- supergeek133 3y ago
  But this cultural issue is literally quoted in the DOJ complaint against Apple. Apple, by overlaying iMessage features over SMS and only accessible to iPhone users have created a virtual second class of phone users.
thomasahle 3y ago
> I "literally ruin" their group texts. I've seen people actually reject relationships because they don't date people with "green bubbles". Yup. We all get this. It's the most effective social lock in ever invented.

npteljes 3y ago

> There are so many competing messaging platforms and they all work reasonably well on iOS And I'd love to have all of them opened up.