Amid the frenzy of discussion over iMessage for Android over the past week, there’s an underlying question. iPhone users almost unanimously choose his iMessage, but what is the most used messaging app?
As for the immediate elephant in the room, yes, this is a US-only issue. While the rest of the world uses just about every messaging app on their device of choice, most Americans are unable or at least unable to download anything other than the default messaging app on their device. It looks like you don’t want to download it. On Android, you’re using SMS or more recently RCS. On the iPhone, surprisingly, it’s all about the messaging app that really wants you to use iMessage with other girlfriend iPhone users.
iMessage has been a dominant force in the U.S. smartphone market for years. many People see it as the only “good” way to get their message across. A “green bubble” equates to messy group chats, terrible photo and video sharing, and tons of missing features, simply because anything other than iMessage is SMS.
That’s set to change next year, as Apple adds RCS interoperable with Android to the iPhone as a green bubble, but that’s still months away.
But I actually think it’s a little silly to boil this conversation down to just RCS, SMS, and iMessage.
Despite its reputation, iMessage is honestly a pretty boring messaging app by modern standards. My personal biggest complaint is that emoji reactions are limited to one of only six options (and they’re not even what I want), but major messaging services like Telegram and WhatsApp Compared to that, I don’t understand at all. Hype. iMessage doesn’t do anything better than these other apps, except for the fact that Apple has managed to get millions of people in the US hooked on iMessage.
For me, I would be happy if Telegram became my only messaging app. zero I’m having trouble using some of the others. I also use iMessage, SMS, Google Chat, WhatsApp, Instagram messages, Twitter DMs, and even his Slack to converse with different people in my life. As an Android user, the only thing I don’t use regularly is, ironically, RCS. That’s only because Google Voice stubbornly hasn’t added RCS yet, but that’s a rant for another day.
what about you? What messaging app do you use most? Do you use more than one? Vote for your favorite messaging app in the poll below and discuss further in the comments below.
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