Google Launches Campaign to Pressure Apple to ‘Fix Texting’, Adopt RCS Messaging

Google has launched an online campaign asking Apple to “fix texting” by adopting the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol for messaging. Currently, Apple uses the outdated SMS and MMS technology for communication with users outside the company’s ecosystem. According to Google, this has led to users sharing low resolution videos. Google, the firm that develops the Android operating system, also highlighted that the outdated SMS and MMS technology has also led to broken group chats and missing read receipts. Without RCS, Apple users cannot send messages to Android phones over mobile data or Wi-Fi.

The US tech giant, Google, has launched an online campaign via the Android website, asking Apple to forego the outdated SMS and MMS technology and adopt the RCS technology instead, for messaging. Google claims that this wouldn’t hamper the experience for users communicating within the Apple ecosystem, but will improve messaging between Android phones and iPhone models.

Google said that the current technology used by Apple doesn’t allow users to communicate with Wi-Fi. This can cause issues when a user doesn’t have good cell reception, according to Google. Apple also doesn’t show if the person you are texting with is typing, doesn’t display read receipts, displays broken group chats when texting with Android users, the company adds. Currently, the messages are also not encrypted, and the images and videos shared via messages are also highly compressed. It is to be noted that these issues pertain to cross-platform communication, not Apple’s iMessage, where all the above-mentioned features are available.

In the meanwhile, Google has highlighted third-party instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Signal. These messaging platforms work on both Android and iOS, allowing iPhone and Android smartphone owners to text each other without using SMS. Google has also shared some screenshots of users who are complaining about Apple’s lack of initiative to adopt RCS. Texting is still widely used in countries like the US, where users on Android can have a degraded experience when texting iPhone owners, who have access to iMessage.

Google has also discussed the colour of message bubbles on Apple’s Messages app. Google claims that iPhone models make reading texts with Android smartphones difficult as Apple uses white text on a bright green background. Apple is yet to respond to Google’s online campaign asking it to adopt RCS, or revealed any plans to integrate the RCS protocol into its Messages app iOS and iPadOS.