A Tale of Two Protocols:
Why cross-platform text messaging sucks.
If you’ve ever been in a group chat for work, you understand that there are problems with cross-platform communication. A group chat on an iPhone will work just fine until an Android user speaks. It’s so notorious that iPhone users are statistically less likely to date someone with the "dreaded green bubbles". But the problem is far more complex than that. But for you to understand exactly what’s wrong with our current system, I have to tell you a tale of two protocols.
Apple devices use the iMessage protocol, A proprietary system developed by Apple only available for use on Apple’s own devices, and unavailable anywhere else. It comes with a myriad of features including integration with other applications and support for Apple’s Bitmoji system. This system works fine when everyone is using iMessage with the same set of apps, But since the protocol is only available on Apple devices, those with Android devices can’t receive messages that rely on the protocol. If a user not supporting iMessage speaks in the group chat, the chat will switch to the MMS standard, which can break previous messages.
On Android’s side, RCS is a newer protocol that aims to completely replace SMS. It improves heavily over previous protocols. In 2016, the GSMA released the universal profile Specification for use of RCS. Google developed an implementation of RCS in 2018, but it took 3 years until major cellular providers finally supported it. Google has developed an API for other developers to support RCS but has only released it to Samsung as of May 2022. Third-party apps can’t support it until an API is released. Until that happens, the only way to use RCS is via Google or Samsung’s messaging app. (Windows phones supported it too)
So now it’s 2022, we have 2 very good protocols, but neither one works cross-platform. Android users can converse amongst themselves, and Apple users can do the same. For the cross-platform woes to be fixed, 1 of 3 things needs to be done. Apple could develop a cross-platform API for use of iMessage on Android, but we know that’s as unlikely as a satellite falling into your backyard, Google could release its API, and somehow convince Apple to support it, though that also seems unlikely considering Apple’s “walled garden” model. Finally, and possibly most likely, Apple could develop its own implementation of RCS. Until one of those things occurs, we will have to either suffer from the poor cross-platform support, or we will have to use a different service, like Telegram for cross-platform communication.