Wheel of Messenger Apps, turn turn turn, tell us the app we should learn…
There has been a lot in tech news over the last few weeks about Android users wanting to use iMessage and it’s sparking some debate on messaging apps. Some are claiming that Apple has a monopoly over it. Look at the wheel above. Give it a spin. Did you land on iMessage? No? Then Apple doesn’t have a monopoly. The problem is you or the person you’re sending messages to is lazy.
Proprietary Protocols Aren’t New
I have an iPhone. I primarily talk to other people who have iPhones. We use the iMessage protocol to exchange messages. In 2004, the vast majority of my friends all had AIM (that’s AOL Instant Messenger) and we had AOL at home. We primarily chatted with AIM. Well, I had a couple friends that only had YIM (Yahoo Instant Messenger). AIM and YIM protocols weren’t compatible. I couldn’t use my AIM screenname on the YIM network and vice versa. This meant I had to have two IM clients. Then someone else only had MSN Messenger and now I needed a third.
Back in the day, I had so many messenger apps. It was a bit of a relief for a while when it seemed like everyone was starting to consolidate to a single instant messenger service. But each service wanting to have it’s own messenger is anything but new. And the absolute worst is they all supported and did different things.
Easy Solution
Apple doesn’t want any hardware or software that isn’t developed by them to speak iMessage. That’s the rules of the iMessage protocol. Is anyone complaining that Discord doesn’t speak Telegram? Or that they can’t receive Signal messages in Facebook Messenger? Of course not. iMessage is Apple’s protocol. Discord is Discord’s, Facebook is Facebook’s.
If you can’t handle switching apps, then you should switch to a single app that everyone is on. But since people have different preferences, you better get used to switching different apps. Oh, and if you absolutely must use iMessage, then get an iPhone.
And if you’re not willing to do that and your iPhone family is complaining about your phones “poor quality photos”, then open the app called “Mail” and send the photo as a mail message. Because that’s one protocol just about every device on the planet can speak.