Google has blasted Apple for ‘breaking’ texting between iPhones and Android models, having increasingly called its tech rival out for not adopting rich communication services (RCS).
Google launched its new ‘Get the Message’ campaign with a post on the Android website, saying: “It’s time for Apple to fix texting.”
It continued: “It’s not about the color of the bubbles. It’s the blurry videos, broken group chats, missing read receipts and typing indicators, no texting over Wi-Fi, and more.
"These problems exist because Apple refuses to adopt modern texting standards when people with iPhones and Android phones text each other.”
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Google wants Apple to change its mind on RCS, the new standard of messaging that replaces SMS texts and MMS that would improve the communication between Android and iOS users.
It said this serves as ‘a really clear solution’ to a number of issues, including the ‘green/blue bubbles’, end-to-end encryption and more.
“Apple turns texts between iPhones and Android phones into SMS and MMS, out-of-date technologies from the 90s and 00s,” Google said.
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“But Apple can adopt RCS — the modern industry standard — for these threads instead.
“Solving the problem without changing your iPhone to iPhone conversations and making messaging better for everyone.”
In a statement, Google said messaging should ‘bring people together’, not ‘pull them apart’.
It added: “The Android team’s goal is to make texting a more secure, modern and enjoyable experience for everyone, regardless of the phone they’re using. Because it shouldn’t matter what phone they have – things should just work.”
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The campaign is also urging people to ‘help @Apple #getthemessage’, encouraging others to share their woes on social media.
According to TechCrunch's Aisha Malik, for Apple, iMessage remains one of its 'biggest sources of ecosystem lock-in', meaning it 'doesn't have much to gain from adopting RCS.
On top of this, Malik notes how court filings last year showed that Apple doesn’t want to make iMessage for Android because it would 'hurt the company more than help it'.
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"Considering all of this, it seems unlikely that Google’s new campaign will be the factor that pushes Apple into adopting RCS," Malik added.
UNILAD has reached out to Apple for comment.
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Topics: News, Technology, Google, Apple
Jess Hardiman