iMessage could have come to Android years ago but Apple killed it

iMessage could have come to Android years ago but Apple killed it — here's why

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

iMessage on Android? Information technology sounds far-fetched, but information technology turns out that it could have happened. But Apple tree killed the thought in order to keep what has become ane of its well-nigh successful services restricted to Apple-made devices.

Information technology'southward a revelation that comes from the ongoing legal dispute with Ballsy Games. The Fortnite creators filed a brief showing Apple'southward executive team made the active conclusion to proceed iMessage off Android. Epic argues that this demonstrates Apple tree's willingness to utilize a "platform lock-in" to keep its users reliant on Apple and its own App Store system.

Everything we know about the iPhone xiii
Plus: iOS 15 leak offers proof that in-screen Impact ID is on its manner

According to the brief, the conclusion to keep iMessage on Apple devices dates every bit far back equally 2013. That'due south co-ordinate to a deposition from Eddy Cue, SVP of Cyberspace Software and Services at Apple. Apparently the visitor could accept adult an Android-friendly version of iMessage that would "take been cross-compatibility with the iOS platform so that users of both platforms would have been able to exchange messages with i some other seamlessly."

But information technology turns out that idea was nixed by Craig Federighi, SVP of Software and Engineering who is in charge of iOS, who argued that allowing a cross-platform version of iMessage would "simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones."

In other words, keeping iMessage as an Apple sectional encourages people to proceed buying iPhones. Phil Schiller, the executive in charge of the app store, agreed with this statement, according to testimony.

As anyone who has left iOS for Android can adjure, simply switching to Google'due south Bone isn't as easy as popping a SIM card into your new phone. Google recommends switching off iMessage earlier you brand the switch to Android, and Apple'due south ain support pages note that non doing this may stop you from getting SMS and MMS messages on non-Apple tree phones.

Jumping to Android besides means you lose access to all your conversation histories, grouping chats, and everything else iMessage can offer.

iMessage on Android would benefit everyone (except Apple)

It's obvious why Apple wants to go on iMessage close to its breast. The visitor makes its money based on people buying its devices, and those devices are useless if they don't have a nifty range of features and services.

iMessage is arguably the well-nigh widespread service in Apple's portfolio, given the popularity of communicating by text message. Not only is it available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, information technology offers far more than ordinary SMS has to offer. That includes the ability to ship files and photos, stop-to-end encryption, integration with Apple'south FaceTime video calling and more.

Plus, Apple'southward commitment to privacy puts it ahead of other popular services like WhatsApp, which is still plagued by the shadow of parent company Facebook. The recent backlash and controversy over WhatsApp allegedly sharing user data with Facebook is ane great case of that.

Every Android user knows at least one person who has an iPhone. I'm the just Android user in my family, for a variety of reasons, and our advice at the moment tends to happen via WhatsApp or SMS.

And then if I could jump into the iMessage ecosystem without really buying an iPhone I probably would. At the very least it would permit me, and no dubiety countless others, sever the final tie I accept with Facebook.

Manifestly, Apple tree'due south concerns are completely warranted. If iMessage is bachelor on Android, and then it may encourage user not to purchase iPhones. Whether people really buy iPhones for iMessage or not is debatable, but it does mean there's one less thing that makes the iPhone appealing. Plus, at the very least, it would be ane less obstruction that would otherwise foreclose people from switching to a competitor's phone.

Of form this hasn't stopped piece of work being done to create a modernized text messaging organization that tin can work cantankerous-platform, should Apple ever decide to include it on the iPhone.

RCS messaging on iPhone could be the answer

SMS text messaging has been effectually since the early '90s, so it's pretty poor and outdated in comparison to modern services. It'due south irksome, unencrypted, and has infamously bad security that exposes information technology to abuse and attacks.

Just it's universal. No thing whether your phone runs iOS, Android, KaiOS, or another operating organization, SMS is there, letting you contact anyone else with a prison cell phone number. Fortunately, it's not like tech companies have been sitting effectually letting SMS go stale, and take actively been working on an upgraded version — so to speak.

Rich communication services, or RCS, has been in the works since 2007. Recently it's also had a lot of support from Google, who rolled out the protocol to all Android phones as part of the Android Letters app at the end of 2019.

RCS is, essentially, SMS 2.0: a text messaging service that offers features that you would normally take to go to a more advanced messaging service for. Group chats, read receipts, stronger media sharing capabilities, and and then on.

It'due south a lot like iMessage, really, which may explain why Apple has never bothered to implement RCS on iPhones. It was built as a cross-platform organisation, and would allow people to have a more than modernized text messaging system regardless of what kind of phone they have. And without resorting to a private, third-party service to do information technology.

Obviously, it would not exist iMessage, and all the obstacles users would accept to face when leaving the Apple ecosystem would nevertheless exist in that location. All your group chats and conversations wouldn't be able to follow y'all to Android, and presumably non-Apple users would still be marked by the infamous green chat bubble.

iMessage on Android is never going to happen, that's very articulate. Just RCS could be a perfectly suitable alternative for people who demand to communicate across platforms.

Because no thing how popular iPhones are, there are always going to be Android users. Since those two groups of people can't just ignore each other, the least Apple tree could do is help to streamline the procedure.

Even if that means adding bonus features to iMessage to stop a potential user exodus.

More: Apple iMessage: How to deregister your telephone number

Tom is the Tom's Guide'southward Automotive Editor, which ways he can usually be establish knee deep in stats the latest and all-time electric cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He's usually found trying to squeeze another behemothic Lego ready onto the shelf, draining very large cups of java, or complaining that Ikea won't let him buy the stuff he actually needs online.