Most of us are familiar with iMessage. If you have an Apple device you’ve almost certainly used it.
iMessage is the app that allows you to send texts to and from various Apple devices like the iPhone,
iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. Launched in 2011, the app comes as standard with Apple’s line
of products and since it’s release has shown itself to be a leader in its field,
batting off competitors like Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and Viber. Considering these were
originally built by companies whose sole purpose was to create the best messaging app possible,
it’s pretty impressive that iMessage surpassed all of its competitors and remains popular today.
In fact, some may have expected Apple to put messaging on the back burner while focusing
on more important iOS features. But they took the exact opposite approach and it’s really paid off.
People have cited iMessage as the primary reason why they continue to buy iPhones.
But why is iMessage so popular and what makes it so much better than Android? Well that’s exactly
what I’m going to explain. This is Greg with Apple Explained, and I want to thank iMazing
for sponsoring this video. If you’d like to help decide which topics I cover, make sure
you’re subscribed and voting polls like this one will show up in your mobile activity feed.
Alright, now let’s start with one of the most important features of iMessage.
It’s SMS fallback. You know how sometimes you send a message that usually would be blue, but
had trouble sending and appears as a green message instead? That’s iMessage using SMS as a backup
to make sure your text is delivered. There’s a variety of reasons why that happens, but the
point is that it does happen. Instead of telling you that the message couldn’t be delivered. But
there’s another way iMessage uses SMS that makes your life easier. It switches seamlessly between
iMessage conversations with other Apple users and SMS conversations with Android users.
It automatically chooses the right protocol to use without you even thinking about it. And
that’ll be a common theme throughout this video: the seamlessness and self-management of iMessage,
compared to the fragmentation and user-management of Android messaging apps. Which serves as a great
representation of the philosophies behind each platform. Android users rail against Apple’s
exclusivity and closed operating system, but they fail to recognize the benefits of that approach.
An iPhone user unboxes their phone, logs in to their iCloud account, and moves on with
their life. Android users unbox their phone, removes the preloaded manufacturer bloatware,
optimizes battery settings based on their usage, manually downloads their favorite apps including
a messaging client like WhatsApp, logs in to their accounts associated with each app,
install their preferred user interface skin, and hopes that no data is lost in the process.
For most people, the Android approach isn’t some great opportunity to customize their
smartphone experience, it’s just a pain in the butt. And those opposing philosophies
are demonstrated perfectly with the messaging experience on each platform.
For example, iPhone users wake up in the morning and reply to messages on their iPhone,
sit at their desk and continue the conversation on their Mac, take a walk outside and send messages
from their Apple Watch, and then reply to messages on the couch with their iPad.
Everything automatically stays in sync, across all their devices, without even thinking about
it. And for most Apple users, this probably sounds obvious. But on Android, it’s extremely
difficult and sometimes impossible for users to set up such a seamless messaging experience.
For most people, that’s a dealbreaker. And it’s why Apple users don’t leave the ecosystem. And
when it comes to Android users complaining about iOS, they often criticize Apple for
introducing features much later. But iMessage has had read receipts and a typing indicator
since 2011. A capability that was just added to Android with Google RCS in 2019.
And these are just basic functions of a messaging app. And while Android is still
struggling to perform them well, Apple has moved on to bigger and better things. Like an App Store
exclusive to iMessage. Where you can play games, translate text, scan documents, search movies,
and even watch sports highlights all from within the messaging app. Which Android is probably on
pace to implement a few decades from now. There’s also features that just make iMessage more fun to
use like Animoji and Memoji, not to mention a seamless implementation of voice messages,
Audio calling, and FaceTime, that no app on Android could even compete with.
And when you use third party computer applications like iMazing, you can do even more with your
messages. Make sure that your most important conversations are never lost by backing them
up to your computer. Export your conversations as CSV files that you can import into Excel or
Google Sheets, or quickly save them as TXT files if all you need is the plain text. iMazing also
lets you print conversations whether you want to surprise your partner with early chats or
provide evidence in a court case. But my favorite feature is its bulk export of all attachments.
That way, you can quickly save every photo and video from your conversations to your computer,
freeing up valuable space on your phone. But those are just some of the pro features. iMazing is also
the only way to install any iOS app on your M1 Mac, and it’s totally free. I plugged in my iPhone
and was able to transfer the Nest and Tesla apps to my M1 MacBook Air, so I don’t need to reach for
my phone to control my thermostat or car. So if you have an m1 Mac I highly recommend downloading
iMazing today to transfer your favorite iOS apps for free. And if you want to use the pro
features, they’re offering 30% off if you use this code or use the link in the description.
Alright now Google did release their RCS messing app in late 2019 that has things
like read receipts, real-time reply indicators, and interactive media, but the app wasn’t enabled
by default. Just look at this article by Mark Jansen detailing how to set up the app on Android:
“First of all, make sure you’re using Google Messages as your main text messaging app. Some
phones, like those running Android One or Google’s Pixels, will already have Google Messages as
the default messaging app. If your settings are something else, easily change it by going to the
Settings app, then hitting Apps and notifications > Advanced > Default apps > SMS app. Then,
select the Messages app as your default. If you don’t have it, first download the Messages app
from the Play Store. It will ask you to set it as the default messaging app once you launch it.
Next, you’ll want to open the Messages app’s settings. Do this by tapping the
three vertical dots in the upper-right corner. Select Settings, then tap Chat features. Finally,
Enable chat features to turn RCS messaging on. Tapping this option will cause a new bar to
appear. It will show the message Setting up. Setup will take a few seconds, and then the message will
change to Connected. If you can’t configure your phone, tap Setting up and try again.
Make sure that your phone carrier offers RCS and that it’s available in your region.”
Now that sounds like the seamless and effortless experience users can expect
from Android. And just keep in mind, those are the steps to set up just one app. Not the entire
operating system. And even if you use Google’s RCS app, you won’t be able to enjoy its features
if the recipient hasn’t also set up Google RCS. Which is a huge problem considering
Google can’t force manufacturers like Samsung to set RCS as their phone’s default messaging app.
And this creates a vicious cycle that prevents adoption. Just look at some of the comments in
this Reddit thread about RCS usage. One said, ”I can tell you that only 1 out of about 60 of
my regular contacts are using RCS. The rest are using mostly SMS or iPhones. The one person who
had it turned on had no idea what RCS is or how it got activated.” Another said “Most tech sayvv
people will know RCS and how to turn it on. But at the same time, they do not bother to switch from
whatever message apps they are currently using.” And lastly “I've tried RCS but find it useless!
Because almost every person I know has iPhone, so I just went back to Textra.”
This is the story of almost every attempt Google has made at making Android a less fragmented
platform. And it’s why iOS will always be the choice of everyday users who just want products
that work well, with as little frustration as possible. And this isn’t even considering one of
the biggest strengths of iMessage, it’s end-to-end encryption. Which is also an extension of
iOS as a whole. Apple places much more emphasis on security and privacy than any other tech company.
And because iOS is a closed system, they have total control over what their own
apps and third party apps do with your data. Whereas Android apps are known for sucking as
much user data into the cloud as possible, with Google having little control over regulation.
So call me an Apple sheep, but until I can seamlessly send messages across my Galaxy S20,
Dell PC, Amazon tablet, and Samsung watch, I’m sticking with Apple.
Alright guys thanks for watching, don’t forget to subscribe to help
decide what topics I cover, and I’ll see you in the next video.