3 ms·

This post left out the Android situation for custom roms, rooted devices, and non-Google blessed devices. On these devices Google willfully and maliciously bloc

This post left out the Android situation for custom roms, rooted devices, and non-Google blessed devices. On these devices Google willfully and maliciously blocks RCS for these subsets of would-be users: https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/1/24087418/google-messages-blocking-rcs-on-rooted-android-devices https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/1/24087418/google-messages-b... I say willful because they admitted to it, malicious in that at no point will the device inform the user that RCS is blocked. It shows connected and will not relay messages. Spoofing fingerprint and other props it will immediately begin to work again. For users affected, they will have inbound messages silently blocked (because other users will see the device registered on RCS, but Google will not relay it) but not know about the disruption unless they were aware of this news. EDIT: In case anyone thinks this is me being alarmist, RCS is beginning to be used for 911 here's Google's own press release on it: https://blog.google/products/messages/google-messages-rcs-911-emergency/ https://blog.google/products/messages/google-messages-rcs-91...

hocuspocus 2y ago
Ha, I admit last time I worried about custom ROMs, I was using a Nexus 5. I think it's a lost cause and not only because of RCS, see also banking applications. On the other hand, even a $200 Galaxy A gets 4/5 years of updates today, which benefits the vast majority of customers a lot more than an unlockable bootloader.
- gcr 2y ago
  I think you’re getting downvoted so heavily because most of HN dislikes anticompetitive behavior from big players. Having no FOSS solution for RCS is a problem. So is silently breaking the OSS user’s text messages.
  - hocuspocus 2y ago
    I agree that Google's behavior is at best questionable, and I tried to convey that in the article. Especially on Android, RCS support could be split into a subsystem exposing a public API and a front-end client, exactly like third party SMS clients work. But I also live in the real world and things like Android's SafetyNet make custom ROMs almost unusable as a daily driver. Frankly, nothing forces Google to keep selling unlockable Pixels.
    - foolishgurnt 2y ago
      I strongly disagree that SafetyNet makes custom ROMs unusable as daily drivers. I don't need a banking app on my phone every day - in fact I don't use one at all. I also don't use Google Pay; these are not essentials to a phone. But reliable cross-platform messaging? That is essential to a phone. MMS sucks, and I can't convince everybody in my life to switch to Signal.
      - hocuspocus 2y ago
        Google Pay and SCA with banking apps are pretty essential to a lot of people.
        foolishgurnt 2y ago
        I'm using "essential" here in its narrow (and proper, as I would argue) sense. I can use a physical credit card instead of GPay. I can use my bank's website instead of the app. But if an MMS fails to download from a group message I'm in (which happens to me fairly frequently), I have no alternate recourse to see what the message said (except possibly asking a group member to send me a screenshot by email).

hocuspocus 2y ago

Ha, I admit last time I worried about custom ROMs, I was using a Nexus 5. I think it's a lost cause and not only because of RCS, see also banking applications. On the other hand, even a $200 Galaxy A gets 4/5 years of updates today, which benefits the vast majority of customers a lot more than an unlockable bootloader.

gcr 2y ago
I think you’re getting downvoted so heavily because most of HN dislikes anticompetitive behavior from big players. Having no FOSS solution for RCS is a problem. So is silently breaking the OSS user’s text messages.
- hocuspocus 2y ago
  I agree that Google's behavior is at best questionable, and I tried to convey that in the article. Especially on Android, RCS support could be split into a subsystem exposing a public API and a front-end client, exactly like third party SMS clients work. But I also live in the real world and things like Android's SafetyNet make custom ROMs almost unusable as a daily driver. Frankly, nothing forces Google to keep selling unlockable Pixels.
  - foolishgurnt 2y ago
    I strongly disagree that SafetyNet makes custom ROMs unusable as daily drivers. I don't need a banking app on my phone every day - in fact I don't use one at all. I also don't use Google Pay; these are not essentials to a phone. But reliable cross-platform messaging? That is essential to a phone. MMS sucks, and I can't convince everybody in my life to switch to Signal.
    - hocuspocus 2y ago
      Google Pay and SCA with banking apps are pretty essential to a lot of people.
      - foolishgurnt 2y ago
        I'm using "essential" here in its narrow (and proper, as I would argue) sense. I can use a physical credit card instead of GPay. I can use my bank's website instead of the app. But if an MMS fails to download from a group message I'm in (which happens to me fairly frequently), I have no alternate recourse to see what the message said (except possibly asking a group member to send me a screenshot by email).