In Messages on iPhone, you can now use SMS, RCS, end-to-end encrypted RCS, and iMessage. Sure, sending media to Android is better, but everything else is more confusing and frustrating than ever.
Sometimes a clever marketing trick or feature highlight can lead to deeply rooted societal divides. What started as a way to show users that they were not using iMessage and potentially being nickeled and dimed for each SMS is now, annoyingly, a kind of status symbol.
The simple act of texting has become a divisive and sometimes irritating aspect of using a smartphone. Whether you care about technology or not, if you're an iPhone user, you've at the least subconsciously reacted to a green bubble text.
For the Android user, it's a different story. When they text an iPhone user, most of the time it feels like texting anyone. Then there's the double text, a “sent with balloons,” or “Wesley liked that text” that intrusively shoves itself into the chat.
There's got to be a better way.
RCS is just another band-aid
RCS is the bastard child of internet protocol messaging that is still somehow tied to carriers. It is a dumb idea that climbed to the top of dumb ideas and won out as the most suitable dumb idea.
RCS has been slowly accumulating new features
The concept: “Let's replace the ancient SMS protocol controlled by carriers with a new one still controlled by carriers.”
Thankfully, the protocol is better. Some reactions actually show up as expected on the Android user's chat, images are no longer potato quality, and you can actually send a 4K video.
The thing is, it only made things more complicated and frustrating for the end user, especially for those on iPhone.
Now, not only do you need to pay attention to what kind of message it is, green or blue, you have to know if it's SMS or RCS. iOS 26.5 throws in another wrinkle โ end-to-end encryption.
We've gone from two potential endpoints to four. Great work, team.
Image source: XKCD comic…
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