#rcs
Apple officially rolls out RCS for iPhone, but many carriers still don’t support it
The linked article also contains a link to the Apple Support site, which shows what sort of services are live across the various networks around the world. As of today, 25 networks in the USA and Canada have RCS active for iPhones. In Africa, it is zero right now, but Vodacom in South Africa said they were busy with it.
Basically, each iPhone user’s network must activate RCS for iPhones. Many already have RCS active for Android devices, but there is clearly some separate activation still required for iPhones.
See zdnet.com/article/apple-offici…
#Blog, #ios, #RCS, #technology
Google Just Revealed When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS: Possible Northern Hemisphere Fall 2024
The Android developer just published an updated landing page for Google Messages, showing off key features ranging from customization, privacy and security, and, of course, AI.
On this landing page, there are different sections for each feature set, including one for RCS. As spotted by 9to5Google, if you expand this list of RCS features and scroll to the bottom, you see a section on “Coming soon on iOS: Better messaging for all.” That’s no surprise: We’ve known Apple was adopting RCS since November. However, it’s the next line that brings the news: “Apple has announced it will be adopting RCS in the fall of 2024.”
Of course, this does not say a lot as it is “in the fall” which is anywhere over a couple of months, and Google has tried to embarrass Apple into making moves before. I suppose, though, there is the looming court case against Apple which is anyway keeping pressure on Apple. If it were not for the US court case, I would have guessed Apple may have pulled out after the EU had ruled Apple was not a dominant player in the market (although the EU case was looking more at interoperability with WhatsApp and others in Apple Messages).
Of course, with Apple actually including RCS now, they can probably argue that there is interoperability via RCS between their platform and Android too. It must be remembered that in many countries, like mine, SMS’s are paid for so are very expensive to use for any form of chatting, and the costs go up exponentially when you text an international number.
I personally have quite a few issues with interoperability with Apple:
- I still have AirTags from when I had an iPhone and I daily get the audio beeps warning me the AirTags are not connected (I use an Android phone and alternate between an iPad and an Android tablet)
- I can’t wait to sell my AirTags and get the new one’s Google was working on that will interoperate with Apple, but supposedly Apple has been delaying building in that support into their devices (which Google already built into Android for AirTags in 2023)
- Because I was on Apple Messages and my iPad still sometimes connects, I find a message on my iPad that arrived a week ago which I had not seen (I had Beeper which was solving this problem)
Apple is not at all dominant outside the USA, but it makes interacting with Apple users quite a pain, as Apple has gone out of their way to try to keep their users inside the walled garden.
See https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-just-revealed-when-apple-will-officially-adopt-rcs
#Blog, #apple, #interoperability, #RCS, #technology
Google Messages is blocking RCS texts on rooted Android phones
"Entirely expected, but no less unconscionable. Banking applications, government ID services, and now even messaging platforms – all entirely crucial functions in the very fabric of society and government that we’re just handing over to two ruthless abusive companies. It’s simply no longer possible to function in many modern societies without having either a blessed Android device, or an iPhone, since any other platform will often lock you out of crucial functionality that you need to function in today’s world.”
https://www.osnews.com/story/138685/google-messages-is-blocking-rcs-texts-on-rooted-android-phones/
Apple to finally bring RCS to iPhones: But alongside iMessage
I was really sure this was an early April Fool’s joke, but it appears to be genuine…
Apple will keep its iMessage as-is, so that won’t affect its security, and they don’t want to bring iMessage either to Android (as that would lose them customers).
Right now though, iMessage is handling SMS messages, so they either need to move that into the RCS app, or find some way of routing between the two apps, as SMS and RCS are carrier supported messaging linked to the phone number. iMessage can actually work using the Apple ID.
So, it will be interesting to hear exactly how they’re doing this, but ultimately iPhone users will have an app for each service. WE are probably already used to having WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal (and more) installed, and whichever one pops a message up, we just hit reply.
I suppose this move by Apple makes the most sense for them actually by keeping iMessage unaffected. Thing is though that RCS will then of course be a truly universal chat app that could also replace SMS finally. So many organisations are still geared around bulk SMS services, so it may be time for those services to start thinking about transitioning to RCS, which will probably save them a lot of money.
See https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/16/apple-to-finally-bring-rcs-to-iphones/
#Blog, #apple, #imessage, #RCS, #technology
All but one of South Africa’s major mobile operators offer RCS messaging
MTN is the only South African mobile operator that doesn’t offer Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging. However, it acknowledged that the technology is becoming more popular in the country.
“We note that the business case for mobile advertising is gaining traction — and have seen an increase in RCS protocol usage, particularly to the high-end smartphone users.”
According to Mobi Solutions Group member Messente, Google created RCS messaging to offer non-Apple phone users a competitive alternative to iMessage. The technology is commonly referred to as an upgrade to traditional short message service (SMS) and is intended to replace SMS and MMS.
#technology #southafrica #android #RCS #MTN
#Blog, ##android, ##mtn, ##rcs, ##southafrica, ##technology
You know, #Matrix is a great alternative to #Google #RCS.
https://9to5google.com/2022/05/17/google-messages-rcs-ads-india/
Hommage à la cellule de résistance « la main noire »
Aujourd'hui midi, place St Etienne, #strasbourg :
https://strasbourgfurieuse.demosphere.net/rv/3561
Alors que Libre Flot sort de plus de 1 an de prison sans jugements après avoir combattu Daesh, que le RN, crée par des nazi, et toujours soutenu par eux, dont les Offenders qui ont attaqué récemment la maison des syndicats;
Que ça soit contre l'autoritarisme de Macron ou le fascisme de Lepen, cette mémoire est bien trop d'actualité
GNU #RCS 5.10.1 available • Tux Machines ⇨ http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/161057 #GNU #Linux #TuxMachines #freesw
Google exec gives harshest rebuke yet of iMessage lock-in effect in push for RCS on iOS – We can’t replace SMS texts without having one standard for messaging
SMS text messaging is an archaic, expensive, and limited messaging standard. Yet it remains in place as the de facto standard for notifications because everything else is a walled garden and cut off from other messenger services. WhatsApp does not send to Telegram which does not send to Signal, etc.
Apple has deliberately withheld iMessage from non-iOS platforms, so that has never been considered as an option. To replace SMS though, the messaging has to be baked into the phone OS (not to be voluntarily installed or uninstalled by a user), and this is where the RCS standard came in, which also needed mobile carrier support. As it stands, RCS has been adopted by most major carriers and Android devices… but it has zero penetration on iOS because Apple won’t adopt it.
It’s time Apple faced up to this and sat around the table with the other players to discuss a solution that benefits all users. We can’t move on from SMS unless there is a proper alternative that is fully adopted.
See https://9to5google.com/2022/01/08/google-android-rcs-imessage-lock-in/
#technology #RCS #SMS #interoperability #apple
#Blog, ##interoperability, ##mobile, ##rcs, ##technology
Google exec gives harshest rebuke yet of iMessage lock-in effect in push for RCS on iOS – We can’t replace SMS texts without having one standard for messaging
SMS text messaging is an archaic, expensive, and limited messaging standard. Yet it remains in place as the de facto standard for notifications because everything else is a walled garden and cut off from other messenger services. WhatsApp does not send to Telegram which does not send to Signal, etc.
Apple has deliberately withheld iMessage from non-iOS platforms, so that has never been considered as an option. To replace SMS though, the messaging has to be baked into the phone OS (not to be voluntarily installed or uninstalled by a user), and this is where the RCS standard came in, which also needed mobile carrier support. As it stands, RCS has been adopted by most major carriers and Android devices… but it has zero penetration on iOS because Apple won’t adopt it.
It’s time Apple faced up to this and sat around the table with the other players to discuss a solution that benefits all users. We can’t move on from SMS unless there is a proper alternative that is fully adopted.
See https://9to5google.com/2022/01/08/google-android-rcs-imessage-lock-in/
#technology #RCS #SMS #interoperability #apple
#Blog, ##interoperability, ##mobile, ##rcs, ##technology
All three big US carriers will be switched to Android Messages as default for RCS Chat, just Apple remains for supporting E2EE RCS
Beginning next year, Verizon will join AT&T and T-Mobile in preloading Android Messages as the default texting app on all Android phones it sells. It’s the final step for making RCS Chat — the next-gen standard designed to replace SMS — the default experience for Android. In the US, that only leaves one large cohort that will not use RCS as a default SMS replacement: iPhone users.
So yes, Apple has iMessages, but only on Apple so that is of zero use in any situation where you have friends, colleagues or family on Android (it's a real world out here). For anything to replace SMS, it needs to be completely cross-platform and able to be the default messaging app. Google supposedly has no plans either to try to introduce a messaging app that supports RCS on the iPhone.
See Verizon is also switching to Android Messages as default for RCS
#technology #RCS #RCSChat #privacy #E2EE
T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon are on board — will Apple ever be?
End-to-end encrypted RCS Chat messaging is now available for more users in Google Messages
Google began rolling out end-to-end encryption at the end of last year for select Google Messages beta users who have enabled Chat, Google’s implementation of RCS. End-to-end encryption ensures that conversations stay encrypted from when they leave your smartphone, to when they arrive at the other end. There is no server-side decryption, meaning that data can’t be collected in the middle from the servers that pass your messages along. This is a selling point of many texting applications like Signal as it’s a major step towards ensuring the privacy of a user, and now it’s finally rolling out to more users who use Google Messages.
Of course, until either RCS (Rich Communications Services) or iMessage is available across both Android and iOS, neither will be a solution to universal messaging or replacing SMS. Ironically, as I understand it, both depend on Tim Apple! RCS needs to be a standard independent of just Google alone as we've seen how many times Google changes its mind over messaging apps, and having iMessage controlled by a single company is also not a universal solution.
See Encrypted messaging is now available for more users in Google Messages
#technology #RCS #E2EE #instantmessaging
End-to-end encrypted messaging is now rolling out to more users in Google Messages, giving RCS another advantage over SMS.
