In the US most carriers (and certainly the big 3) support end-to-end encryption via RCS. Though of course, Apple won’t support the Diffie-Helman exchange outside of iMessage or anything RCS at all.
Ok, well I still don’t want to install another app to use it so I guess we’re stuck.
What really needs to happen is for all the phone makers agree to use the same protocols (and I really don’t care which) so we can all have end-to-end encryption by default.
I hear ya. Yeah I don’t see why they couldn’t incorporate RCS to fall back on instead of SMS. They could even keep iMessage and everything would be better for everyone.
Everybody has agreed that the default messaging app is Whatsapp over here. I haven’t seen anybody use anything else for texting in ages, on either platform.
I don’t think you guys realize how bizarre this conversation sounds to me.
Everyone knows, because anytime anyone talks about SMS/MMS/RCS somebody comes in to remind people that it’s mostly a US thing. SMS/MMS started to become cheap in the early 00s in most of the US (and unlimited free for users of the same carrier was common) and as carriers raced to compete by the late 00s, unlimited SMS/MMS was commonly free in the US, even to users outside their own carrier. All carriers had interoperability with SMS/MMS already. Even iMessage falls back to SMS/MMS outside of iMessage. It is pretty logical that SMS/MMS became what most people used in the US.
Elsewhere, Whatsapp came out when much of the rest of the world was still paying for the number of text messages sent or they could use a miniscule amount of their data and use something else.
I’m not surprised, that is a very strange arrangement and the conversation sounds nuts from the outside looking in.
Maybe start caveating it with “for those of us in North America” or something. From over here it really sounds like you guys are mashing random keys on your keyboard.
For the record, while SMS still being paid above a certain number was a factor, we were already vastly defaulting to messaging apps before Whatsapp took over. It wasn’t rare to give people your MSN Messenger info rather than your phone number even during the feature phone era. Texting was always more of a commercial thing and for finding people in the street rather than a thing to have long chats.
And the reason why people were defaulting to MSN Messenger was… Because SMS weren’t free. The same thing was happening in the USA/Canada at that point in time, nothing exceptional about Europe. Free SMS reversed that trend in one place, the change to phone plans didn’t happen quickly enough in the other place and a third party app won, that’s all.
What’s nice about SMS is that it will always work as soon as there’s a signal and no matter what phone people have, no need to install multiple third party apps to cater to the needs of those who decide to go against the flow and use something else, you boot your phone for the first time and it’s ready to send messages no matter the phone, simple as that.
It’s no secret that Android is the most-used operating system in the world, a title it first earned after surpassing Windows in 2017. Unfortunately, that’s a fact not quite represented in the US. (emphasis mine)
In the US most carriers (and certainly the big 3) support end-to-end encryption via RCS. Though of course, Apple won’t support the Diffie-Helman exchange outside of iMessage or anything RCS at all.
…which you need to install Google or Samsung messages to take advantage of, so it’s the same thing.
Until all phones use the same protocols in their stock messages app, SMS will still be used to send between the different platforms.
RCS is a standard and is application and even operating system agnostic. Anyone, including applications outside of Android can support it.
iMessage is not a standard and certainly not agnostic.
Ok, well I still don’t want to install another app to use it so I guess we’re stuck.
What really needs to happen is for all the phone makers agree to use the same protocols (and I really don’t care which) so we can all have end-to-end encryption by default.
That’s the thing. Essentially everyone has agreed, except for Apple. This includes 12 phone manufacturers and at least 55 operators world-wide.
Even Microsoft since Windows 10 supports RCS in the Your Phone app, so if you’re using a Windows desktop or laptop, even it supports RCS.
I hear ya. Yeah I don’t see why they couldn’t incorporate RCS to fall back on instead of SMS. They could even keep iMessage and everything would be better for everyone.
Everybody has agreed that the default messaging app is Whatsapp over here. I haven’t seen anybody use anything else for texting in ages, on either platform.
I don’t think you guys realize how bizarre this conversation sounds to me.
Everyone knows, because anytime anyone talks about SMS/MMS/RCS somebody comes in to remind people that it’s mostly a US thing. SMS/MMS started to become cheap in the early 00s in most of the US (and unlimited free for users of the same carrier was common) and as carriers raced to compete by the late 00s, unlimited SMS/MMS was commonly free in the US, even to users outside their own carrier. All carriers had interoperability with SMS/MMS already. Even iMessage falls back to SMS/MMS outside of iMessage. It is pretty logical that SMS/MMS became what most people used in the US.
Elsewhere, Whatsapp came out when much of the rest of the world was still paying for the number of text messages sent or they could use a miniscule amount of their data and use something else.
We know. It always comes up.
I’m not surprised, that is a very strange arrangement and the conversation sounds nuts from the outside looking in.
Maybe start caveating it with “for those of us in North America” or something. From over here it really sounds like you guys are mashing random keys on your keyboard.
For the record, while SMS still being paid above a certain number was a factor, we were already vastly defaulting to messaging apps before Whatsapp took over. It wasn’t rare to give people your MSN Messenger info rather than your phone number even during the feature phone era. Texting was always more of a commercial thing and for finding people in the street rather than a thing to have long chats.
And the reason why people were defaulting to MSN Messenger was… Because SMS weren’t free. The same thing was happening in the USA/Canada at that point in time, nothing exceptional about Europe. Free SMS reversed that trend in one place, the change to phone plans didn’t happen quickly enough in the other place and a third party app won, that’s all.
What’s nice about SMS is that it will always work as soon as there’s a signal and no matter what phone people have, no need to install multiple third party apps to cater to the needs of those who decide to go against the flow and use something else, you boot your phone for the first time and it’s ready to send messages no matter the phone, simple as that.
I mean, this is a thread about US phone use.
It’s not, though? It’s an article on an Android-focused site about the state of Android extrapolating global trends from US stats.
I guess that makes it about US phone use in that “you shouldn’t extrapolate global trends from US phone use” is a relevant point about it.
Second sentence in the article:
The article is US centric and mentions studies and the market in the US all over the article. The article even talks about RCS and the issue there.
This is a strange conversation indeed but I don’t think it is for the reason you think it is.
First Sentence in the article:
This is a strange conversation indeed.
No, which Apple would have to integrate into iMessage.
Literally the point. Everyone is waiting for Apple, EU is considering forcing them (again.)
I really hope they won’t, because it’s very bad for privacy.
It’s fantastic for security, but a privacy disaster.