For all my fellow Android and non-iPhone user brethren, you've likely been blamed for the green text bubbles your Apple friends get in group texts.
Oh, the inconveniences of the green bubbles, right?! Even I've grown frustrated over the years, and this is after I shared evidence and proof Apple is the one to blame.
“Wait, WHAT?!?!” iPhone users are shouting as they spit out their 8 a.m. coffee from Starbucks.
This is not satire. It's a fact.
My buddies will give me crap about being the (typically) lone Android user. Look, certain data and other things I deem important or need could not transfer to an iPhone.
I really don't like iPhones either. It's ironic given I love my MacBook Pro I've had since college. The Lenovo's and other personal computers I had before that were all junk!
So for everyone who wants to have the ultimate trump card in Apple versus Android debates, let's dive in and show those iPhone crybabies the truth of Android's might.
*Quick writer’s insert: As I returned to writing this column’s first full draft, the group chat’s final non-RCS user somehow had RCS enabled a day after a sent SMS/MMS message!! HALLELUJAH!!! The text messages turned dark blue, meaning all of my fantasy buddies can go and shove their excuses where the sun doesn’t shine!!!!*
Look, I'll never claim to be the next tech wunderkind, though I know enough to find the information that I need.
For instance, a quick google search of reputable sites and sources turned up when Apple implemented the swap to RCS. It was just one summer ago, with the introduction of the iOS 18 operating system.
Taking one excerpt from Tom Pritchard (hyperlinked in the graf above), a blogger on Tom’s Guide, explains the main reason Apple gave for the green versus blue texts.
“Apple says this green/blue bubble divide is a security feature. It’s a warning to iPhone users that the conversation doesn’t have all the same security and conversational features you’d get in an iPhone to iPhone conversation, so users need to be careful about what they send and to not expect anything beyond basic text messaging.”
The big key was the revolution of communication between devices that will sooner or later rid ourselves of the old-and-tacky SMS messaging service.
Heck, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Jarrett Allen is a perfect example. A former long-time Android user, in 2022, his teammates basically forced him (hyperbole) to swap to an iPhone because of the green texts.
I managed to hold out. Part of it was I am not as rich as Allen is, nor did I need an iPhone at all. I got nearly six years out of the second android phone I bought in 2019 before getting what I call the “Shiny New Toy” as a Christmas present at the start of the year.
“SO WHY DID IT TAKE SO MUCH TIME, FITZY?!?!?”
I’m glad you asked. I’m going to stay with Pritchard’s piece given how simple and easy to understand the breakdown of analysis is for this tech novice. This is where I call Apple “lazy.”
In Pritchard’s piece, he notes the following: “Apple’s official line for not adopting RCS is that the standard didn’t meet its strict security criteria. The official RCS specification doesn’t feature end-to-end encryption.”
Pritchard does go on to note later that RCS messaging was a mess in the past, something that must be acknowledged, though think about this for a minute: If SMS texting services also had problems with encryption, and it’s been around much longer, isn’t that a red flag?
I say so. I really want to continue my victory lap, but let me close it out with my final point.
Pritchard notes in a 2021 piece how Apple killed an effort to allow iMessage to be used on Android devices.
I have to say, I may never have been happier that the disclosure came from a legal dispute involving Epic Games, the makers of the Fortnite video game.
I don’t play Fortnite and probably never will. Whether you love the game or despise it, I’ll love the game’s maker simply for the fact that I can finally tell all of my iPhone friends…
*AHEM*
I TOLD YOU SO!!!
