Android may have reached its wits end and is now ready to fix messaging between Android and Apple users. The blue bubble versus green bubble battle is a long drawn one. Apple has been accused of restricting the quality of images and overall experience Android users get when texting their friends who use iPhones.
What is the more unpopular fact is that this is a marketing strategy for Apple. Some Android users have had to switch to iPhones because their friends had iMessage, and they didn’t. It is also more than just the texting experience, but the status Apple is trying to create as well.
On its part, Android offers RCS messaging as an alternative to quaint SMS/MMS. This offers users the opportunity to chat with friends on the Google messaging app using data charges. There are a lot of added features to this experience like sending GIFs, high-quality images, and everything you will do while chatting on an app like WhatsApp.
Having used RCS messaging regularly with my friends, I find that both iMessage and RCS are similar. Asides the user interface and animations, Android’s RCS messaging offers the same experience as Apple’s iMessage. Why we don’t have cross platform collaboration and users chatting from either operating system is baffling.
Android helps us to understand that the fault is with Apple. Previously, Google’s team used Drake’s “Text Go Green” song to point out Apple’s outdated texting technology. This technology doesn’t affect its Apple users (as they enjoy modern chatting standards) but plagues Android users (stuck with SMS/MMS).
There are many reasons why Apple should integrate RCS messaging into their messaging service. The most important is security since SMS messages do not have end-to-end encryption, hence making Android users vulnerable. Here’s hoping Apple listens to the community and embraces a common messaging standard instead of classifying friends by operating systems.