This is entirely a USA problem. No one in Europe uses iMessage as their primary messaging app.
What do they use? Whatsapp? Wechat? Signal?
Over here it’s Facebook Messenger, followed by Telegram and only then WhatsApp. Signal is niche stuff for nerds such as yours truly.
Where I live it’s mostly whatsapp
Yeah it actually varies a lot. In Poland Whatsapp is the boomer messaging app for cringy political memes used exclusively by 50+ year-olds. Everyone else uses Facebook Messenger and Telegram (especially Ukrainians, Belarussians and people who work with them)
Germany uses Whatsapp and Signal. Whatsapp for the older generation, Signal for the younger ones. But almost everyone has both. Telegram is a niche messenger for conspiracy theorists and alt-righters, because it’s russian and those people love Russia.
Yea, that’s totally why people I know use Telegram / 🤦♂️
Might be different in other countries, but in Germany its only used by them.
in Germany its only used by them.
Factually wrong.
i live in germany and to me telegram doesn’t feel niche at all.
a lot of younger people use it a bit like discord, like for group stuff. organizing (like e.g. political activism), finding apartents in berlin, and yes, getting drugs as well. also some worklplaces use it (which i think is terrible). it is also preferred by a lot of people to communicate via telegram over signal or whatsapp in situations where people don’t want to give away their number, like online dating.
Depends on the country but mostly WhatsApp followed in second place by Telegram
And I refuse to use any Facebook products, so what’s app can fuck right off
That’s a wildly generalizing and inaccurate statement
True, a small minority uses iMessage but it’s so small, the EU didn’t even look twice at iMessage when assessing digital gatekeepers.
Everyone who has an iPhone uses iMessage as a main communication app. Nobody bothers to replace their default SMS client and literally all banks, institutions, 2FA and key communications rely on sms to work.
The fact that most people seem to prefer to have their personal or business chats on WhatsApp is secondary to SMS and iMessage (on iPhone obviously).
but SMS isn’t where “main communication” happens anymore
virtually all banks and institutions also send out letters via the postal service, but I wouldn’t say that was proof that “main communication” was typically delivered via envelope
Everyone who has an iPhone uses iMessage as a main communication app. Nobody bothers to replace their default SMS client and literally all banks, institutions, 2FA and key communications rely on sms to work.
Receiving a second factor is hardly communication. Nobody sends a thank you SMS back.
Heck, I get 2fa WhatsApp messages these days.
Except it is
Except it is
By a very strict definition: Yes.
By anything that matters in the context of this: No.
Nobody in europe that has an iphone uses imsg as their primary anything. Because Europe is an android dominated market.
“Nobody who drives a car does that. Because most people drive bikes.” Please go back to school and try again
That doesn’t even make sense lmao
Here even iPhone users predominantly use WhatsApp to communicate with each other.
Stop pretending you know how this market works. You don’t.
As if you do 😂
Do you really want to know how dead iMessage is in Europe? I was on iPhone for 4 full years, with bunch of friends and colleagues with them as well. I never even knew that it was anything but SMS app - that no one uses. Everything is on other applications, and SMS is just for automated messages and like 5th backup communications method if nothing else is available
In what country do you live? I live in Germany and not even iPhone users use iMessage.
Use your reading eyes and understanding brain again and reread what I said
What you said was bullshit lol
iMessage is barely used
Use your reading eyes sugar
I did. Guess what? You’re still full of shit. iMessage isn’t used. It’s like internet explorer.
Not a problem for me lmao. No one I talk to uses apple products because we have self respect
I really hate that some people I know only use Facebook Messenger, some use Instagram, some use Discord, and some use text.
It’s a nightmare when working in groups for uni, so I just email everyone. Email has all the features I like.
I have plenty of folks in my circles who never read or reply to emails :p
Yeah the vast, vast majority of folk use Android, it’s Apple that fucked up SMS.
Fuck them, nobody uses SMS for that reason, let Apple sort it out, or be forced to by the EU again lol
This is so comically wrong I don’t know where to start. SMS was fucked from the get go, especially in the US where it was common to charge by the message for SMS. Seriously. It was $0.25 to send and $0.10 to receive them on a lot of people’s plans.
The wireless carriers fucked SMS, and will absolutely fuck up RCS - along with all the various providers out there. It’s a dogshit standard that isn’t broadly interoperable still.
iMessage was a breath of fresh air for people who did use SMS.
It’s so weird to me that in the US you pay to receive messages or calls. Where I live the sender pays, or the caller pays. It doesn’t cost to receive. Plus you normally get unlimited messages anyway, like even a approx US$10 a month plan will have unlimited SMS included and like 200 minutes of outbound calling, plus data.
If you’re paying for messages received then people can send you unsolicited messages and it costs you money?
I think they’re now broadly free on all but the most restrictive plans- but when iMessage came to be they weren’t - and most phones wouldn’t split 160 characters into multiple messages. You were literally limited by that.
They used to charge extra if you were roaming too. I think T-Mobile was the first to stop and everyone followed.
You’re insanely correct, and it was extra fucked because it wasn’t even MORE DATA being used. It was piggybacking on unused data packets already being sent to towers, hence the character limit. BUT WE CAN NAKE MORE MONEY IF WE CHARGE FOR THAT
23 years ago, text messaging on Cingular was 100% fucking free.
Some of these people are just making up bullshit off the top of their heads.
Then Cingular was fucking DOPE.
I sold phones in 2006 and almost all (if not all) of the plans cost money per text. We did not have Cingular though!
You’re totally right but this is the android community…so we’re gonna need you to start sounding like the echoes here or you can leave.
/s
Sms was from a time communications weren’t done over IP, RCS or iMessage use the IP protocol, RCS could be implemented by the telcos but isn’t because , unlike SMS, it can also be implemented by anyone with a server with a connection to the internet but as RCS is an open GSMA telecom standard, it is implemented within all modem chips by phone makers, even Apple has a Qualcomm modem chip with RCS management included. I reckon it needs a few extra features in the basic standard such as E2E encryption, chatbot capabilities, malware and spoofing protection, maybe Google could help there as they have introduced those into their Message app and could disclose their code, but they are obviously trying hard to create a walled garden too… The solution could come from Meta as they seem pretty keen to advance on open communications (Threads interoperability with Mastodon is a demonstration of that policy)
iMessage was a breath of fresh air for people who did use SMS.
But even before the launch of iMessage it was dumb to communicate mainly over SMS simply because of how shitty it was back then.
let Apple sort it out, or be forced to by the EU again lol
The EU’s Digital Markets Act doesn’t care about niche messengers like iMessage.
Apple has already sorted it out. They announced support for RCS is coming.
Not in the US. Apple has about 60% of the market.
True, but my entire family uses iPhones and I made them all switch to Signal.
iMessage isn’t required.
All my family uses Android, except for a few exceptions. They all dropped signal when it lost sms support. So we use sms instead, fucking cool move signal.
We don’t use Signal for SMS, we use Signal for E2E encryption. Signal for SMS is useless.
I’ve basically started telling people to either message me on Signal or I likely won’t respond in a timely manner, if ever. Not my problem. Urgent? Better call.
Dick move? Maybe. But fuck SMS and fuck iMessage.
Yeah I don’t want to be a dick to my friends and family I guess.
Nah, that’s like saying “I won’t respond to a fax in a timely manner”.
SMS is dated/dying/dead
The elephant in the room, of course, is that this is literally only a problem in the United States. Everywhere else in the world, folks are totally fine using messaging apps. WhatsApp is pretty popular worldwide, and there are regional favorites too. But, the point is, it’s only in the States that people seem to be against this idea. The answer for why is very much up for debate, but the conversation is, at this point, just getting exhausting.
Can confirm, as a Brit. We probably would have a sardonic explanation for why only people in the States are against using other messengers too…
I went to great lengths to get my family group chat migrated from FB Messenger over to WhatsApp, and then Meta bought WhatsApp. I’m doomed. I’ll never get these Americans to transition to something like Signal
I’m Canadian and use a ton of messaging services. It had honestly become ridiculous until I started using Beeper!
Yep. In Japan we all use LINE with a small fraction of (largely Western foreigners) using whatsapp. Korea has kakaotalk with some (also?) using LINE. I’m not sure what’s most popular in Chinese circles these days; WeChat, maybe?
I think this might be changing in the U.S., because my friend group only talks on Discord. I don’t even have their phone numbers.
I still really miss Google Hangouts. It was integrated with Gmail as a web interface. The web and mobile app synced perfectly. You could use SMS/MMS, or chat, seamlessly in the same interface. Contacts worked correctly. SMS and chat history saved to Gmail so all the text was searchable. It was AMAZING and Google killed it for no reason, only to later replace it with inferior options.
Edit: oh yeah, you could also make phone calls, or group voice and video calls using the same app/web interface.
tell that to everyone i know
I want to use good apps, but my family members don’t. I can’t just avoid my family.
What is wrong with simply texting? If anyone tells me I need to get a specific app to message them, then I won’t be messaging them.
Security is probably the most important, but there are also general chat utility features such as replies and read receipts.
This right here is the attitude that most people have, because it’s not convenient for them. Suck it up, there are many things in life you do not want to do, but you have to do them anyways.
