Jesus the EU is really regulating the shit out of Apple and I love it
3 trillion, of course they have their shit together
Bet $10,000 dollars they will lock it behind a paywall, and if you don’t pay you are still forced to use SMS.
Yup, and they know exactly they won’t be able to deliver this in 2024 - it’ll be years before the GSMA gets its act together and implements end to end encryption in the standard, and before that happens, Apple is very unlikely going to deploy this. But I’m sure antitrust agencies around the globe will drink the kool-aid.
There’s nothing stopping Apple from implementing Universal Profile RCS tomorrow, except for their development time. There’s nothing to lobby the GSMA for, it already works.
Now the E2E encryption piece is another matter. Note that’s not committed to coming before 2024 - just standard RCS is.
It remains to be seen if RCS support really fulfills the EU requirements.
BTW, green bubble vs. blue bubble is not really a thing in the EU. As iMessage is indeed rarely used here, nobody will buy an iPhone because of it.
RCS bubbles will be pink with red text.
From the EU perspective iMessage does not even qualify as having enough regular users
What stands out to me about this is that Apple have stated specifically that they will implement the RCS Universal Profile. It means that if/when compatibility issues arise, which they probably will, Apple can turn around and say that they implemented it as per the spec and can point the finger right back at their competitors.
Which is the whole point of a standard, so good. Just like how Nintendo butchered the USBC implementation in the docks, anyone with shit implementations deserves to be shit on.
That’s literally how standards are supposed to work. Nothing tricky about it.
The tricky part is that GSMA has no interest in broad implementation of RCS, much less encryption.
Source? I don’t see the GSMA wouldn’t agree to add features two of the biggest implementors
Nothing tricky about it.
I see you’ve never encountered American capitalism before.
I understand why that seems savvy but most Apple customers wouldn’t care that it’s not technically Apples fault, they buy Apple in part because things tend to just work.
But Google has their own version. Why would they be to blame?
There won’t be compatibility issues. Google’s RCS service also uses Universal Profile, as it has to communicate with carrier implementations.
The only issue is you won’t get E2EE, but the RCS message will work.
But, this also means that the universal profile will win and any issues with it will get better. Google, the carriers and likely all other Android OEMs are going to scramble to make it as good as it can be. They will make sure group chats don’t break, that videos and pictures are sent in decent quality. Make sure that things like reactions, typing indicators, etc work.
Apple has picked a side and like with so many other standards, I think everyone else will bend to follow suit. If there are problems at launch with certain Android phones, the first one that works seamlessly will get a leg up.
Apple is the 800lb gorilla in the space and what they do, others will follow. This is a good outcome. It might not be great at launch, but give it a year or two and it will shake out.
Three conspiracy theorists walk into a bar You can’t tell me that’s just a coincidence .
I wonder if rcs compatability is just releasing to the iOS 17 iPhones, or if they are gonna add it to the long term support operating systems.
new iPhone 16 feature confirmed? /hj
So will they also add the ability for alternative messaging apps to be able to send / receive messages?
iMessage isn’t popular just because it’s iMessage, it’s popular because it’s the priority messaging system and seamlessly integrates with “normal” SMS/MMS messages.
I think Apple should make a MessageKit framework (or something like that) to enable apps the ability to essentially replace the messages app.
Apple makes and locks in so many default apps, and it’s kind of annoying honestly.
I hope this interoperability will mean something like Trillian could exist for the modern age… a single app that lets you communicate with everyone regardless of the platform they use. it’s a shame XMPP didn’t really take off
I am an avid RCS supporter and have been for years, but I don’t think Apple need to open up the whole app.
Apple does not have any real lock in for messaging apps, people can add their own to the App Store easily, there are no rules against this. WhatsApp has existed and been the primary messaging for many for a decade and Apple hasn’t ever tried to kill it.
For legitimate security reasons does not allow other apps to takeover SMS/MMS etc. I am over the moon Apple will finally allow real interoperability between platforms, that was the issue and it will be fixed, no need to bloat it.
I think Apple should make a MessageKit framework (or something like that) to enable apps the ability to essentially replace the messages app.
So 3rd party sms apps like android? I can see why some people might like that but also why apple wouldn’t. Walled garden and all that stuff, they’d never make this an API
I mean this move really has no downside for Apple. Green text will stay green text. It’ll never be as robust an experience as iMessage.
Just as long as I don’t get the text version when a green bubble person “likes” my message, I’m happy.
Didn’t Apple fix that in iOS 16? Or was that only fixed in group texts?
hopefully no compression of videos and images
I mean for sensible human beings who are able to look past the colour of a digital bubble, this change breaks a lot of barriers for people who have iphones due to complications of texting with SMS. Those complications will no longer exist and there would be less incentive to stick with Iphones unless they are buried in the ecosystem.
I mean having AirPlay/shareplay features in RCS texting isn’t what people are asking for. It’s functional cross-platform group texts, read receipts, full sized media sharing, and other basic features that RCS hopes to bring to all smartphones.
No downside for Apple users. There’s some downside to Apple because it reduces lock in.
In a q and a a reporter even asked Apple a question about this directly
But the person who asked the question, Vox Media’s LiQuan Hunt, came back with a valid complaint, saying that his mother can’t see the videos he sends her. It all comes down to a lack of interoperability between iMessage and RCS, both messaging systems that could allow higher-quality images and videos — if they worked together. If you’ve tried to send a video from Android to iOS (or vice versa) using your regular text messaging app, then you know that your videos come out completely fuzzy on the other end. Cook’s suggestion to fix this annoying issue? “Buy your mom an iPhone.”
So why did Apple refuse for so long if there is no downside?
Because there’s no real upside either. People aren’t going to run out and buy more iPhones because they suddenly support RCS.
The upside is the user experience for iOS users using SMS was dogshit. Apple dragging their feet didn’t just make the user experience worse for Android users who texted iOS users, it also did the same to it’s own iOS users. Hell, it even made it terrible between iOS users when iMessage had to fallback to SMS when there was bad data signal and the video that was sent would arrive in some compressed video file that would have been right at home in 1998.
This whole time we could have had typing indicators, read receipts, higher quality photos and videos, well functioning group chats… etc, between android and iOS (and among iOS when there was not data) but instead we just had shitty SMS/MMS technology from over 20 years ago. Apple kept things intentionally worse for it’s own users to create a sense of “lock in”
Why would they? They weren’t under any pressure to but now it makes strategic sense to.
If there are no downsides then why did the EU have to strongarm them into doing it?
It will be a lot of work to go correctly without leaking user info
By promising to deliver to the open standard - not more or no less - they have put the ball squarely back at Google, which runs RCS as defacto proprietor - both design & operations
AFAICT, only Samsung & some Verizon services are allowed to use their API independent of Google oversight. Now Google should be gracious to stop whacking at the bush & let others run & co-develop the standard
Google doesn’t own RCS though. Why would it be up to them?
even for newer Samsung devices, Google Messages replaced Samsung Messages as the default messaging app.
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of Apple fanboys against RCS suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something wonderful has happened.
What a terrible article. So much words but could be said in I a paragraph.
ANdRoId dOeS eVerYtHing BeTtEr jfc you all sound like imbeciles
I could see the GSMA adopting IETF’s Message Layer Security for E2E Encryption.
For an app to provide end-to-end encryption, it needs an extra layer of cryptography that sets up encryption keys among the devices participating in a conversation, so that these devices can encrypt users’ data in a way that cloud services can’t decrypt. Before MLS, there was no open, interoperable specification for this extra layer. MLS fills this gap, providing a system that is completely specified, formally verified, and easy for developers to use.
Google already said they will support this protocol.
In a move towards enhancing user privacy and security, Google has officially announced its support for the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol for its Messages app. Google has always hoped that Apple can add support for Rich Communication Solutions (RCS). However, the company has now turned its attention to the Message Layer Security (MLS) protocol. It is hoping to increase the cross – platform link and convince Apple to make changes in iMessage.
Given a large part of the GSMA are gov agencies or carriers that are under gov pressure and subject to well established wire tapping requirements I would be very surprised if encryption is adopted. It was proposed during the original spec and refused and again more recently refused.