Google created an iMessage like messaging system called "Chat".

AltTabbins

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/18/business/google-rcs-protocol-chat-android-imessage/index.html

Finally. Especially since RCS is pretty much a bust since individual carriers liked screwing with it so you couldn't use it to send RCS messages outside of their network, or just straight not enabling it.

The only downside I see to this is that messages aren't encrypted as they go through Google's system. You know they are going to be scrubbing those for potential data to market products and ads for you. Lets also see if it has SMS fallback, meaning if you send a message to (123) 456-7890 and they don't have a Chat enabled phone, it will automatically send as an SMS instead of failing.
 
I think the biggest thing was SMS fallback. You don't realize how big this is until you don't have it. I know everywhere else but the US doesn't care, but when I have a contact's phone number thats all I want. I dont want to have to search through a directory for their name or get an email address from them on top of their phone number. I just want a phone number. When I send a message to someone, I want to use their phone number and I just want it to send. If they have iMessage, great, it will go through as an imessage. If they don't, I want that same message to just send as an SMS. If google doesn't have this or its just a clone of one of the dozen other messaging apps that can't do this, it will fail out of the gate.
 
This could be useful but I fear Google will kill it off like they usually do. :p

I wouldn't mind this to send messages easier since MMS with 1 bar of service is not fun.
 
What is wrong with just using SMS? What benefit does iMessage or this add?

Think iMessage was like because it worked across devices even if they only had wifi and also didnt count as a text for people on text limited plans (is this even a thing anymore).
 
Think iMessage was like because it worked across devices even if they only had wifi and also didnt count as a text for people on text limited plans (is this even a thing anymore).

iMessage is also encrypted.

Though, Google and privacy is kinda like a lead balloon at this point. They've long past their motto of Don't Be Evil.
 
I can't see how a semi-proprietary, non encrypted (end to end) offering is a real improvement. We've had "Signal" for years, which is open source, has end to end encryption, doesn't go through Google's servers open, and has SMS fallback among other features s described. I figure its probably the best drop-in replacement for default mobile SMS clients to date, on both iOS and Android.

There are other solutions of course depending on what features you wish, but if you want a SMS replacement (and more, as it can even do encrypted video and voice if you wish), Signal seems to be the way to go.
 
I can't see how a semi-proprietary, non encrypted (end to end) offering is a real improvement. We've had "Signal" for years, which is open source, has end to end encryption, doesn't go through Google's servers open, and has SMS fallback among other features s described. I figure its probably the best drop-in replacement for default mobile SMS clients to date, on both iOS and Android.

There are other solutions of course depending on what features you wish, but if you want a SMS replacement (and more, as it can even do encrypted video and voice if you wish), Signal seems to be the way to go.
Im with signal too wished more people would ... Why give google even more data?
 
Im with signal too wished more people would ... Why give google even more data?

Personally I had never heard of signal.


I think you are hitting on exactly what is the problem. Everyone has their favorite app, and because of this everything becomes hopelessly fragmented.

No one wants to have a different app installed for every damned person they chat with, thus the apps that achieve critical mass stay that way, because everyone is already on them.


The easiest winners are those which are either installed by default on devices (SMS, iMessage, etc.) or tied to some other ubiquitous service (like Facebook Messenger.)

I'm not quite sure how WhatsApp became so popular, as it had neitjer when it started. (But belongs to Facebook these days)

Maybe I am just old, but I rarely message anyone anymore, so for me it's more trouble than it is worth to go find a preferred messaging app. Once in a blue moon when I send a message, I'll just use SMS, because everyone has it.
 
What is wrong with just using SMS? What benefit does iMessage or this add?


SMS is outdated and needs to die. You are limited in the packet size of the texts, so a long message will send as 3-6 different messages instead of one. And MMS has terrible compression required for photos to be sent.


My area is strange. Wifey and I are on a Verizon MVNO and for the last 2 months, sometimes we have RCS enabled, and other times just plain SMS. The difference in photo quality is INSANE. OFTEN times there is a lag in SMS but not with RCS.
 
What is wrong with just using SMS? What benefit does iMessage or this add?

  • Its installed on every iPhone.
  • It has SMS fallback. So If you gave me your phone number and I sent a message to it. It would either go as an iMessage or as an SMS.
  • It works on data, not cellular. Meaning if you are out in the sticks or in a foreign country where its $1 a text to send them back home, you can connect to wifi and not pay a dime.
  • You can send full resolution pictures.
  • You can send full resolution videos that play right in the messaging app.
  • You can send full resolution audio.
  • Links show up in a rich format instead of just an address.
  • You can enable message read receipts.
  • Group messages work like you would think. You can add 20 people and every time someone replies, everyone else gets that reply.. not just the original sender. Its essentially like opening a chat room.
  • You can see when the other party you are texting is typing.
  • You don't have to convince your entire social circle to switch to app X or Y, when they all use Z.
  • You just use a phone number. No "hey whats your account name on app X?" or "hey, I use Facebook Messenger...... so that means I have to add you as a friend so we can talk".

I'm sure there's some I missed, but you should get the idea from those.
 
  • Its installed on every iPhone.
  • It has SMS fallback. So If you gave me your phone number and I sent a message to it. It would either go as an iMessage or as an SMS.
  • It works on data, not cellular. Meaning if you are out in the sticks or in a foreign country where its $1 a text to send them back home, you can connect to wifi and not pay a dime.
  • You can send full resolution pictures.
  • You can send full resolution videos that play right in the messaging app.
  • You can send full resolution audio.
  • Links show up in a rich format instead of just an address.
  • You can enable message read receipts.
  • Group messages work like you would think. You can add 20 people and every time someone replies, everyone else gets that reply.. not just the original sender. Its essentially like opening a chat room.
  • You can see when the other party you are texting is typing.
  • You don't have to convince your entire social circle to switch to app X or Y, when they all use Z.
  • You just use a phone number. No "hey whats your account name on app X?" or "hey, I use Facebook Messenger...... so that means I have to add you as a friend so we can talk".
I'm sure there's some I missed, but you should get the idea from those.

you can send entire songs, rich location data, oh and it's encrypted end to end so apple can't spy on you.

It's a superior system and very reliable, I've sent maybe 10 sms messages in the last year, and all of those were because people were oversea's.
 
I guess I just don't use my phone the same way you guys do.

My fiance is Brazilian, so she has WhatsApp (everyone there seems to). She is my only contact in that service. We use that to communicate on a daily basis, but it is 99% short simple text messages which would work just fine over SMS anyway. Occasionally I'll send a picture, but it is relatively rare, and when I do, I'd rather it were scaled down and kept small, than these stupid multi-megapixel images our phones produce these days.

Other than that, I'm almost 40 and have a fiance and future stepson now, so the whole going out with friends thing just doesn't exist anymore. Every couple of years an old school friend is in town, and we'll coordinate meeting up using SMS, because that's what we both have. No need for sending pictures or anything when all you are doing is sending something like "let's meet at place X, and time y".

When I recently traveled to Europe for a cousins wedding, we created a few Facebook messenger groups to coordinate our travels.

In the grand scheme of things though, I don't message a whole lot. If I exclude my household messages via WhatsApp with my Fiance, I probably only exchanged a handful of text messages over the last year. I don't think any of the features above would really make a difference to me.

For everything else I generally just email people. I feel like I have better control over email than over some chat app that tries to parse and process everything I do.

Some thoughts below:

Its installed on every iPhone.
Agreed. This is convenient. It certainly helps get everyone using the same platform. Except, you still have some people on Android, and some on iOS. I guess I would prefer an industry standard.

It has SMS fallback. So If you gave me your phone number and I sent a message to it. It would either go as an iMessage or as an SMS.
This is a mixed bag, If you are counting on encryption you could easily find yourself accidentally sending a message without it. In general, unless EVERYTHING is encrypted, it is of limited value.

It works on data, not cellular. Meaning if you are out in the sticks or in a foreign country where its $1 a text to send them back home, you can connect to wifi and not pay a dime.
This is convenient, though hardly unique. And I can't remember the last time I found myself anywhere where I couldn't send an SMS, or needed to pay for one.

You can send full resolution pictures.

Whats the need in a Chat app? That hardly seems the place for anything full resolution. It's a place for small abbreviated chats. There are better ways to share full resolution stuff.

You can send full resolution videos that play right in the messaging app.

I kind of feel th4e same as I do with the full res images. This is kind of wasteful in a chat app. In my 12 years of using smartphones I don't think I've ever wished I could send someone a video in a chat.

You can send full resolution audio.

Again, in 12 years of owning smartphones, I don't think I've ever sent audio in a chat, or desired to.

Links show up in a rich format instead of just an address.

I see this more as a negative. I don't want anything parsing my links for me.

You can enable message read receipts.

Again, this is a negative to me. What if I don't want people seeing that I have seen their messages?

Group messages work like you would think. You can add 20 people and every time someone replies, everyone else gets that reply.. not just the original sender. Its essentially like opening a chat room.

This is how my messages currently work in SMS?

You can see when the other party you are texting is typing.

Again, this seems like a negative to me. I don't want anyone seeing what I am or am not doing.

You don't have to convince your entire social circle to switch to app X or Y, when they all use Z.

This is convenient, yes.

You just use a phone number. No "hey whats your account name on app X?" or "hey, I use Facebook Messenger...... so that means I have to add you as a friend so we can talk".

I'm not convinced I want everyone to be able to find me on every platform. That, and if I had to chose one universal constant across platforms, it probably wouldn't be my phone number. I'd be much more likely to chose my email address.
 
I guess I just don't use my phone the same way you guys do.

My fiance is Brazilian, so she has WhatsApp (everyone there seems to). She is my only contact in that service. We use that to communicate on a daily basis, but it is 99% short simple text messages which would work just fine over SMS anyway. Occasionally I'll send a picture, but it is relatively rare, and when I do, I'd rather it were scaled down and kept small, than these stupid multi-megapixel images our phones produce these days.

Other than that, I'm almost 40 and have a fiance and future stepson now, so the whole going out with friends thing just doesn't exist anymore. Every couple of years an old school friend is in town, and we'll coordinate meeting up using SMS, because that's what we both have. No need for sending pictures or anything when all you are doing is sending something like "let's meet at place X, and time y".

When I recently traveled to Europe for a cousins wedding, we created a few Facebook messenger groups to coordinate our travels.

In the grand scheme of things though, I don't message a whole lot. If I exclude my household messages via WhatsApp with my Fiance, I probably only exchanged a handful of text messages over the last year. I don't think any of the features above would really make a difference to me.

For everything else I generally just email people. I feel like I have better control over email than over some chat app that tries to parse and process everything I do.

Some thoughts below:


Agreed. This is convenient. It certainly helps get everyone using the same platform. Except, you still have some people on Android, and some on iOS. I guess I would prefer an industry standard.


This is a mixed bag, If you are counting on encryption you could easily find yourself accidentally sending a message without it. In general, unless EVERYTHING is encrypted, it is of limited value.


This is convenient, though hardly unique. And I can't remember the last time I found myself anywhere where I couldn't send an SMS, or needed to pay for one.



Whats the need in a Chat app? That hardly seems the place for anything full resolution. It's a place for small abbreviated chats. There are better ways to share full resolution stuff.



I kind of feel th4e same as I do with the full res images. This is kind of wasteful in a chat app. In my 12 years of using smartphones I don't think I've ever wished I could send someone a video in a chat.



Again, in 12 years of owning smartphones, I don't think I've ever sent audio in a chat, or desired to.



I see this more as a negative. I don't want anything parsing my links for me.



Again, this is a negative to me. What if I don't want people seeing that I have seen their messages?



This is how my messages currently work in SMS?



Again, this seems like a negative to me. I don't want anyone seeing what I am or am not doing.



This is convenient, yes.



I'm not convinced I want everyone to be able to find me on every platform. That, and if I had to chose one universal constant across platforms, it probably wouldn't be my phone number. I'd be much more likely to chose my email address.

It doesn’t sound like the new messaging stuff is really for you. That’s perfectly fine. There’s a lot of people who feel locked into iMessage though because they use those features a lot.
 
iMessage is also encrypted.

Though, Google and privacy is kinda like a lead balloon at this point. They've long past their motto of Don't Be Evil.

Yeah, that motto died in like 2007 when the market started crashing and they were like "fuck this, we need to make money"
 
At this point, is it too late? Haven't most people already found something they like? Nearly everyone I know is either entrenched in iMessage or Facebook Messenger with no reason to leave.
In other places (like Europe), good luck pulling people from WhatsApp. When Hangouts went business-only, I think they missed their chance.
 
WhatsApp is not just Europe. Pretty much anything that is NOT USA... afaik.

And iMessage.... so it works on less than half of the phones out there... don't assume...
 
At this point, is it too late? Haven't most people already found something they like? Nearly everyone I know is either entrenched in iMessage or Facebook Messenger with no reason to leave.
In other places (like Europe), good luck pulling people from WhatsApp. When Hangouts went business-only, I think they missed their chance.

If it comes preinstalled on every new Android phone, and replaces the SMS app and is automatically used when both sender and recipient have it, I can see it pulling some market share.
 
If it comes preinstalled on every new Android phone, and replaces the SMS app and is automatically used when both sender and recipient have it, I can see it pulling some market share.

I'm sure it'll get some by default. I'm mainly just curious why anyone would swap to it vs. FB Messenger, WhatsApp, or all of the Apple people that have been using iMessage for 10+ years. Feels a lot like Microsoft Edge. There needs to be some type of compelling feature advantage to actually get people to swap away from something that already works. Especially when it's still using phone numbers and isn't tied to a social network. The killedbygoogle.com team is probably already making an entry.
 
or all of the Apple people that have been using iMessage for 10+ years.

I know a lot of people who feel locked to Apple because of iMessage. Its a big part of why I always end up with an iPhone since messaging is huge for me.
 
Yeah, that motto died in like 2007 when the market started crashing and they were like "fuck this, we need to make money"

I'd say it was when they became focused on platform censorship. They took a stance and they are now going to face regulation because of it. They should have stayed the course of a carrier.
 
What is wrong with just using SMS? What benefit does iMessage or this add?
The fact I could talk to most of my friends or family on any iOS/OS X device I owned without the need to load additional software..... Pretty cool.
 
The fact I could talk to most of my friends or family on any iOS/OS X device I owned without the need to load additional software..... Pretty cool.

Lol, I haven't really used any instant messaging on non-phone platforms since the AOL instant Messenger days.
 
I think this will be the default text message app for Android phones, will it not? Like, it's not so much as a "new app" but a new backend that'll run without anyone knowing what's going on except the ones "in the know" about it. Just like most people don't know (or didnt know for a long while) about Apple's iMessage where it works on just wifi without the need for a mobile network connection.

I suspect Google will take the same approach to make the switch seamless. Where users are using it probably wont even know they're using it.
 
I know a lot of people who feel locked to Apple because of iMessage. Its a big part of why I always end up with an iPhone since messaging is huge for me.

The way this is written you might consider an Android (or other) device if not for iMessage. What is so unique or important about it in your view to play such a large role?

I personally don't see iMessage as anything special from either a technical or usability point of view so I am curious. The vast majority I've spoken with who seem to place great stock in it seem to have some sort of "Apple reality distortion field" quasi-cultural answers as opposed to technical/functional, but I don't want to assume and know there are others with different rationale.
 
Google has tried and failed multiple times before no reason to believe this will be any different.
 
Lol, I haven't really used any instant messaging on non-phone platforms since the AOL instant Messenger days.

Sounds like you have zero use for any of the mentioned platforms then? Including SMS ...

On a side note, if Google had this 5 years ago when i swapped from Google I probably would have stayed, the fact that I can text from any of my devices is quite helpful (And a driving factor on my swap way back when).
 
The way this is written you might consider an Android (or other) device if not for iMessage. What is so unique or important about it in your view to play such a large role?

I personally don't see iMessage as anything special from either a technical or usability point of view so I am curious. The vast majority I've spoken with who seem to place great stock in it seem to have some sort of "Apple reality distortion field" quasi-cultural answers as opposed to technical/functional, but I don't want to assume and know there are others with different rationale.

I made a huge post with bulletin points a few posts up.
 
Google has tried and failed multiple times before no reason to believe this will be any different.

They have tried, been moderately successful, then axed all the progress. Then made another messaging app to add to their 7 that come pre installed on every android phone.
 
Now if it was only secured, we could call it blackberry messenger.
I went back to an iPhone in part because of the ease of iMessage.

And I liked iMessage because I had BBM for so many years. Back when these features were only on BBM.
 
upload_2019-6-19_18-53-24.png

imess, sounds about right...
 
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