this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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cross-posted from: https://kbin.projectsegfau.lt/m/[email protected]/t/26889

Google just announced that all RCS conversations in Messages are now fully end-to-end encrypted, even in group chats. RCS stands for Rich Communication Services and is replacing traditional text and picture messaging, providing you with more dynamic and secure features. With RCS enabled, you can share high-res photos and videos, see typing indicators for your...

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[–] [email protected] 72 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Reminds me how much I hate Apple.

Thanks Google for making Android.

Now please turn the evil knob down a notch and go back being the awesome company you once were.

Edit: typo

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The fuck does this have to do with Apple?

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Apple purposely will not integrate this to keep a walled garden around their ecosystem and make messaging between apole/Android a shit experience.

In a perfect world everyone would just adopt rcs, it's better for consumers but Apple only gives a shit about branding/$$$.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

The one thing that feels off to me about Google’s implementation is that it’s not vendor agnostic and all comms would need to go through Google’s servers to work. The E2EE bit is an entirely Google specific extension to RCS, for example. The last thing we need is another chromium situation in a different area.

If it wasn’t a Google specific extension, phone networks around the world would need to pick up the pace and adopt RCS, but also they’d need to keep up to date with the latest version of the standard to ensure the functionality is supported. Now, looking at phone networks’ previous track record, they’re really not going to implement it unless they’re forced to and they’ll do so at a real snails pace.

At this point I’d agree that Apple not adopting RCS is really not helpful here.

I feel the EU’s Digital Market Act that’s forcing messenger applications to be interoperable with each other is going to be a much more viable option towards that perfect world scenario. The IETF is even fleshing out a common protocol for it, MIMI with MLS.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But Signal has been available on Android and iOS this whole time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

i keep telling my iphone friends to dl signal, it's great.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Signal killing text support killed Signal for me. Sadge.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait…a texting app killed texting?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

they sunsetted the sms functionality in their app "to focus on the signal protocol and make it less confusing for people" if i remember correctly. not a big deal to me, the few sms i send i can use a different app for

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Aside from the fact that Google finally implementing E2EE in RCS not having anything at all to do with Apple, I’m confused.

Apple developed a fully encrypted messaging system 16 years ago, 4 years later RCS was developed but wasn’t even adopted by all three major US carriers until 2 years ago (much more complicated than just this as they refused to work together on Universal Profile standards and Google has so ‘valiantly’ stepped in to do it without them), and Apple is the bad guy for not switching to a competitors standard that was (until now) less secure, uses googles back end services, is arguably less capable, has an extremely poor desktop access experience, is less intuitive to enable, and takes away a competitive advantage? All while other E2EE messaging apps have been available on both iOS and Android for years.

Why not push for google to adopt iMessage as a standard instead? Maybe google has been holding iMessage back for 16 years. Maybe Apple isn’t holding rcs back but carriers are. Or maybe it’s the GSMA. Or maybe it’s a larger systemic issue with capitalism. Or maybe it’s one of any number of other issues that makes it disadvantageous for Apple and Google to work together on this.

This article, cancerous as the site is on mobile, does a good job breaking down the issue and how it’s not as clear cut as folks here are trying to make it: https://www.androidpolice.com/google-rcs-messaging-feud-apple-imessage/

At the end of the day, y’all being angry at Apple about RCS sounds just a bit like simping for google and falling prey to their marketing campaign to try and win the messaging war. Im not really interested in experiencing another chromium situation but with messaging. Particularly when WhatsApp is king in the messaging space globally.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Why not push for google to adopt iMessage as a standard instead?

Because that would ruin Apple's business model of 'your friend doesn't use iMessage because they have an android and thats on them'

They wouldn't make money off of iMessage being on androids, which they've shown with other things to be the only thing they really care aboyt.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Because Apple wouldn't fucking let anybody else use iMessage.

Whereas RCS is out there for anyone to use.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Doesn’t really explain what google enabling E2E on RCA has to do with Apple

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

He's talking about RCS in general. Apple won't implement it as it's a huge threat to iMessage which is a service that keeps a lot of the US users buying their phones.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sorry. Wrong article. Fixed now.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Ok so here’s my take: Apple implemented a secure messaging system in 2007 with iMessage. Then, in 2011 Google started to implement RCS, which then took several years for it to begin rolling out and being adopted.

Why doesn’t google push to adopt iMessage instead? It was implemented first and has been being constantly developed for 16 years and is certainly more well rounded than RCS.

Now, everyone is angry that Apple won’t switch to a standard that’s not fully supported by all android devices or carriers, that is potentially less secure, AND takes away a competitive advantage and calls that ‘holding back RCS? I’ve been hearing about RCS for some 10 god damn years, back before I switched to iOS and it’s still not fully adopted across domestic carriers.

Not to mention, I and many others are working to de-google our lives and I frankly don’t want my messaging going through google backends, even if they do assure me that it’s encrypted. If there’s one thing I know about Apple, it’s that they don’t share my data because it’s a competitive advantage not to. Google on the other hand seems to be happy to give it to anyone that wants it.

Though I do think it’s funny how your article talks about all the problems with RCS adoption lying with everyone (carriers namely) centering around Google’s implementation of it and then lands on ‘Apple is making it lucrative for 3rd party apps like WhatsApp’ as it’s summary for how Apple is holding back RCS. The article and the headline don’t match.

I’ll leave this here, not as a counter to yours, but as a more complete picture: https://www.androidpolice.com/google-rcs-messaging-feud-apple-imessage/

Ultimately, Google is as much at fault as Apple for RCS' low penetration. However, Apple's reluctance to support RCS for iMessage and using the latter as an ecosystem lock-in is bad for consumers.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

I feel like Google has everything to gain and apple has more to lose by implementing this. It's not good guy Google, bad guy Apple. It's a business decision. I say this as an Apple hater.

If the shoe was on the other foot Google would be doing the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Google tracks you everywhere you go all over the internet. Like 90% of websites have a script that calls home to Google to let them know you visited. That’s their business model.