I asked if people chose iPhone for the blue bubbles elsewhere a couple days ago, and while there was some good discourse on that post, the blue bubbles definitely also came up as a reason.

In my experience, when people find out my texts are green, they oftentimes would rather switch to a different platform altogether like Instagram or just not text at all.

Is this actually a deal-breaker in friendships out there?

  • @Mane25
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    3511 months ago

    Maybe it’s a US vs Europe thing but as a European, most messaging (for better or worse, probably worse since it’s Meta) is done via whatsapp, where messages appear the same for iPhone and Android users, if somebody messages me through SMS I’d probably think it was a scam or they’re really old, no-one I know uses SMS anymore.

    • Shiroa
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      611 months ago

      It is in fact, a US vs Europe thing. Stateside “SMS” is ubiquitous. I put quotes because it’s not really SMS anymore. It’s either RCS between Android users or iMessage between iPhone users. The only time SMS actually gets used is between Androids and iPhones, because as other commenters in this thread mention. Apple refuses to implement RCS on their devices in a way that is compatible with non-Apple devices.

      • kirklennon
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        411 months ago

        Apple refuses to implement RCS on their devices in a way that is compatible with non-Apple devices.

        I think it’s important to note that “RCS” in this context actually refers to a proprietary messaging platform by Google, running on Google’s servers. There is no industry-standard RCS in use in America; it’s just Google’s forked version, which in practice is exactly as proprietary as iMessage. Nobody should expect Apple to implement someone else’s proprietary messaging platform on their devices, especially one run by Google, which has the worst history of managing messaging platforms of any company on the planet.

    • HipPriest
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      211 months ago

      Yep in the UK everyone from teens to your Nan use WhatsApp whatever smartphone they’ve got.

      My Dad is the only outlier who sends texts, I think he does it on purpose to be ‘different’ though. Everyone misses his messages until he sends them again on WhatsApp.

    • firecat
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      -511 months ago

      Whatsup is just Facebook messenger. No one is installing it, you been fool to believe everyone uses it but not really.

      • @Mane25
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        11 months ago

        Well I certainly wouldn’t use it if it wasn’t for social pressure, it’s the main way most of the people I know communicate and has been for 5+ years. I don’t have a facebook account or need one to use it, so I wouldn’t call it facebook.

      • @BackStabbath@lemm.ee
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        311 months ago

        What? It’s absolutely enormous in many countries, don’t be delusional. It’s by far the most used messaging app in India, and it’s not even slightly close. From different posts I’ve seen over the years, it seems like a lot of other countries use WhatsApp as their primary messaging app as well. I personally prefer Telegram’s features, but it’s not much of a choice here because everyone just uses WhatsApp.

      • HidingCat
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        111 months ago

        They’re completely different services, and given USA’s population doesn’t exceed South America, Europe, South Asia and South East Asia put together (all majority WhatsApp users), then yes, just about everyone uses it.

        • firecat
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          111 months ago

          No not everyone uses it, just like not everyone in America eats burgers. Services doesn’t even matter, some old people i know wouldn’t touch Whatsup because they are too tech litteric.