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Sorry, what? Not sure if you're joking, but Americans use texts because they're free and the ability to use them comes preloaded on the phone (no need to download something that takes up more space). I have Signal and WhatsApp on my phone for my international friends, but I use texts to communicate with US friends because RCS works with everyone and it's integrated much better into my phone, watch, etc. than any app can be without an absurd amount of permissions given to the app.
The entire rest of the world doesn't whine about such things and just uses a 3rd party messenger that works the same across all platforms.
Not to get too bogged down in this debate or anything, but this European is surprised you say that SMS is reliable. One of the great motivators to use web-based messaging apps is because SMS is so notoriously unreliable, with messages occasionally not receiving or sending. Has SMS reliablity been improved much in recent years? Or is web-based messaging less reliable in your experience?
Genuinely curious btw, I'm not in the same party as the troll elsewhere in this thread.
In the US at least reliability hasn't been an issue in 15 plus years at least...
I personally occasionally experience delayed sending/receiving of messages, or messages suddenly coming in in bulk. Only very rarely do messages not come in at all thankfully, but mostly the occasional delays in sending/receiving I think led to the reputation of poor reliablity for SMS. But it makes sense that the US would try to keep those issues to a minimum if so many people still use it, whereas in Europe perhaps it's less of a priority?
Ah, I see. Your point isn't necessarily reliability but availability. It's an interesting perspective to hear that the US appears to be so behind (at least from a European perspective of course) when it comes to messaging apps. As far as SMS reliablity goes, I have occasionally had messages not send, or have messages come in delayed considerably. Or stuff like 2-factor auth texts not coming in, requesting a new one and then suddenly receiving 3 at a time. Not deal-breaking or anything, just the occasional annoyance.
I don't think WhatsApp allows you to send a message to someone who doesn't have the app. So WhatsApp would just inform you. Although I don't recall the last time someone did not have either WhatsApp or Signal installed. But again, that appears to be far more common in the US?
Do you ever miss the extra features that web messaging brings, like in-chat polls, voice messages, etc...? I'm not sure how much of that RCS supports (because almost nobody uses that here). To me it seems like the convenience of web messaging outweighs the "does person x have app y" question, but that's probably because I never really have to ask myself that question.
I also just realised that you state that everyone has SMS messaging. There are phone plans available here that don't offer SMS messaging anymore. You can still receive them, but sending them either doesn't work or costs a high premium (obviously this disadvantage is offset by a lower price for the rest of the plan). I wouldn't be entirely surprised if SMS eventually just gets phased out.
Thats called jabber and it's existed for 25 years.
I mostly say it because SMS is so ancient. Not encrypted, messages are storied by the carrier and can be requested by the government, etc... In that sense, even a corporate-controlled messaging system that offers E2EE would be a step up. After all, SMS is pretty corporate-controlled too, just different ones. But again, this is very much a European perspective, I can see why in the US this might be different.
Ah true, iPhones are much more popular in the US. Quite interesting actually how that happened, iPhones aren't all that popular here at all and Android phones dominate the market. I wonder why Apple hasn't managed to copy their dominance here as well?
Looks like Tello, Cricket, MobileX, US Mobile and T-Mobile can offer it at least. Apparently it's often marketed as a Tablet plan, which I suppose makes sense, but it seems a lot of carriers allow you to disable SMS in their web portals these days. I thought it'd be more niche in the US but it seems a more common option than I thought.
It's been interesting to hear from you about your perspective on this, thanks!
I'd still rather use meta tho (which end to end encrypts the content) than unencrypted plaintext shit that goes straight to the government.
The fact that youre illiterate and you're hallucinating stuff i never said, is sad. I will address your concern however.
If you think that they are actually not encrypting the message content, then you're a conspiracy theorist. They have thousands of other ways to track the user and give metadata to law enforcement. There is no need for them to lie about protecting the messages, as none of the regular users care about that. They had more than enough users of Messenger even before it was E2EE.
What a smart thing to say 🥱
No, I'm actually very amused by Americans' unwillingness to install a proper messenger and whine about green and blue bubbles.
The only messengers I mentioned by name were Signal and Telegram. You must me have confused with someone else.
All those stubborn Americans do that, whether they spell it out all the time out not.
Not with the attitude to refuse to install 3rd party messengers in the first place.
In different regions around the world, different messengers are the norm (for example Line in Japan). Only Americans are zealous defenders of archaic SMS.
Lolno.
No, because it's a real argument.
Completely irrelevant where I live. I made a random example from around the world that shows how non-US societies don't cling to SMS.
That's how defending SMS looks like. SMS, the true work horse. 🙄
Neither has SMS which you and your American friends defend so hard.
Actually, I just replied to Eheran's comment do didn't know either Google Messages nor Samsung Messages. It's you people who feel the urge to discuss my short reply further and further which I entertained because I was a bit bored anyway. I actually only mentioned Signal and Telegram (and later Line) by name but stayed on topic of SMS/RCS all the time. You making up discussions and moving goalposts yourself is on you.
The only people who whine about that are children and Europeans.
This is such a dumb take... "Lol Americans all using SMS! We prefer to install 4 different messaging apps to talk to people, and can't do shit if we end up in an area with low reception"
10/10
American problems
Which is why Americans use it? Sorry you struggle to put two and two together...
No, American iPhone users use iMessage. American Android users wished they had iMessage. It's an ideological thing.
No, American iPhone users use iMessage and think they're superior. American Android users don't give a fuck and think it's hilarious that iOS users think they're superior because they used dumbed down devices that nag for money everywhere.
You should consider staying in your own lane...
Australia checking in.
Everyone can send and receive SMS. It's always the primary /default contact method.
Close friends can be contacted via whatever third party app but there's no single platform everyone uses other than SMS.