Google’s Android team has started a new campaign to pressurize Apple to adopt the RCS standard for the Message app to enable rich communication across platforms. Android has launched a website “Get The Message” to highlight how Apple is locking consumers in its blue/green chat bubbles ecosystem and list the benefits of adopting RCS for consumers on iOS and Android.
The team has also addressed the issue in a blog post “Ask a Techspert: What’s breaking my text conversations?” in which Google’s Elmar Weber explains how Apple’s refusal to support RCS protocol is creating a disparity between iOS and Android users.
Android says “It’s time for Apple to fix texting” across platforms
Several Android smartphones including Google Pixel, Samsung, OnePlus, and others support the RCS protocol.
Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard is a modern protocol to offer rich features to text message services like the ones enjoyed by iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. The standard supports the exchange of audio and video messages, group chats, ‘Read’ receipts, end-to-end encryption, and other features.
Accusing the iPhone maker of depriving Android users of rich communication, the Android team holds Apple responsible for “broken” conversations between friends on different operating systems.
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.
The proposed solution to Android users’ broken texting and social frustration is Apple’s adaptation of the RCS for the Messages app so that everyone gets to enjoy the iPhone’s blue bubbles’ rich communication.
There’s the hitch! So Android phones use RCS, and iPhones still don’t. iPhones still rely on SMS and MMS for conversations with Android users, which is why your group chats feel so outdated.
Think of it like this: If you have two groups of people who use different spoken languages, they can communicate effectively in their respective languages to other people who speak their language, but they can’t talk to each other.
And when they try to talk to one another, they have to act out what they’re saying, as though they’re playing charades. Now think of RCS as a magic translator that helps multiple groups speak fluently — but every group has to use the translator, and if one doesn’t, they’re each going to need to use motions again.
Apple has responded to Google’s attacks. Previously, Google executive Hiroshi Lockheimer took jabs at the Cupertino tech giant twice in support of RCS and recently, used Drake’s new song “Texts Go Green” to troll the iPhone maker.
Therefore, it can’t be said that the Cupertino tech giant plans on consider supporting RCS on iOS.
However, DigitalTrends explained that Apple is preventing the widespread adoption of RCS and other issues like lack of support from carriers, and the development of RCS to offer new features like end-to-end encryption, and cross-device support.
