Sorry I did not explain my argument very clearly, please allow me to elaborate... On Transparency: When you send an Apple iMessage to a non Apple device it is

Sorry I did not explain my argument very clearly, please allow me to elaborate... On Transparency: When you send an Apple iMessage to a non Apple device it is sent via SMS - this can be seen since the colour of the message text shows as gray (or is that green) and not blue. In many use cases, it is not sensible to check the device type of the recipient. The transition from Internet to SMS is performed transparently in that you are not aware of it until after it has been done. You are not warned or given the option to agree to this drop down. (There may be a mode for this, but I am referring to the general situation for most users). Bear in mind that as soon as the drop down to SMS occurs, the message content is sent in the clear over a telco network and that national telco's are required to store all message content for law enforcement. On Disappearance: A main benefit of having disappearing message in WhatsApp, Signal and so on - which I assume have proper E2EE (?) is that, after a while, there is no record in the cloud that can legitimately be accessed by law enforcement - even if local law requires me to give up my password. This is true for all parties to the chat - although it requires trust that a counter-party is not screen shotting away. Summary: So, the main thrust of my argument is that it would be impossible to deliver the main benefit of disappearance in iMessage since it would only be applied to some of the messages depending on the other users device. Of course, Apple could disable text messaging and they could offer the iMessage app on other devices (or allow compatible 3rd party apps). However, for Apple iMessage is a tool that suppresses the value of SMS and limits the ability of mobile network operators to extract revenue.