Google is rolling out a new “Receive Messages” campaign and website today to pressure Apple to change its mind about RCS. The tech giant is increasingly calling on Apple not to adopt RCS, a communication protocol that could improve the messaging experience between Android and iOS users.
“It’s time for Apple to fix the messaging bug,” the website reads. “It’s not the color of the bubble. Those are blurry videos, broken group chats, lack of read receipts and typing indicators, no Wi-Fi messaging, etc. These problems exist because Apple refuses to adopt the standards. modern messaging where people using iPhones and Android phones text each other”.
Google says the campaign aims to address not only the “green/blue bubble” problem, but also other common challenges in cross-platform messaging, including end-to-end encryption and more. . The problems are all due to the iPhone continuing to use SMS and MMS for non-iMessage chats, which Google calls “outdated technology from the 90s and 00s”.
The tech giant is pushing Apple to fix these issues by supporting RCS, which offers many of iMessage’s features in a protocol that can be used on both iOS and Android.
“Texting should bring people together — not pull them apart,” Google said in a statement. “The goal of the Android team is to make texting a safer, more modern, and enjoyable experience for everyone, no matter what phone they’re on. Because it doesn’t matter what phone they have — everything will work. “
On the other hand, for Apple, iMessage is one of its biggest sources of ecosystem keys, so they don’t get much benefit from RCS adoption. In addition, court filings revealed last year show that Apple don’t want to create iMessage for Android because it will hurt the company more than it will help it. Considering all this, it seems unlikely that Google’s new campaign will be the driving factor behind Apple’s adoption of RCS.
Google’s focus on RCS follows years of failed attempts to create its own messaging product, following several of its chat apps, including Hangout, Allo and many others have been discontinued.
