Stop pretending Nothing's iMessage app had anything to do with RCS on the iPhone (9to5google.com)
from AnActOfCreation@programming.dev to technology@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 01:57
https://programming.dev/post/5988707

#technology

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brihuang95@sopuli.xyz on 17 Nov 2023 02:07 next collapse

lifehacker.com/tech/nothing-phones-imessage

Not sure how accurate this is, but I saw this article yesterday and thought I’d share for awareness

jeena@jemmy.jeena.net on 17 Nov 2023 02:26 next collapse

Is it the old tale about causation vs correlation?

Teknikal@lemm.ee on 17 Nov 2023 02:36 next collapse

I agree with the article but I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple still decided to shut down Nothings chats anyway. It’s pretty damn cheeky how much they copied the iPhone design and now trying to get imessage as well.

Not to mention this would potentially compromise security of everyone who communicates from an iPhone to a Nothing Phone.

Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 02:41 next collapse

Not potentially, it would 100% compromise security. You have to sign in to your Apple ID on some Mac mini in a server farm somewhere that Nothing has control of.

Teknikal@lemm.ee on 17 Nov 2023 02:44 next collapse

Yeah it’s definitely compromised on the Nothing phone side but I was thinking more of the IPhone users supposedly encrypted messages being stored at Sunbird when they likely wouldn’t even know they weren’t direct.

db2@sopuli.xyz on 17 Nov 2023 04:37 next collapse

So it’s not even actually an iMessage app. Cute.

Amir@lemmy.ml on 17 Nov 2023 07:57 next collapse

IIRC Nothing doesn’t even have control over it, they only have a deal with Sunbird to make this work

Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 16:13 collapse

Wow that’s even worse!

[deleted] on 17 Nov 2023 18:59 collapse

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[deleted] on 17 Nov 2023 11:43 collapse

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danielfgom@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 05:22 next collapse

It definitely has nothing to do with Nothing. They are just using this to get attention. It’s pathetic really.

They are probably struggling for sales of their overpriced weird looking devices and needed some way to remind people they still exist

If you’re considering the Nothing 2, I advise you to rather look at the OnePlus 11, a far superior phone at a similar price. Especially on black Friday

thanevim@kbin.social on 17 Nov 2023 05:48 next collapse

Wait- OnePlus is good, actually? Last I heard was massive disappointment in the company

XTornado@lemmy.ml on 17 Nov 2023 07:45 next collapse

It’s not the same company as day one… Now is owned by Oppo. So basically is a Oppo phone that is for sure. And if you are looking for those super open phones to unlock add customs roms… Look another way.

For other stuff… Idk I have one it works well for me and it was a much cheaper alternative to Samsung or iPhone and with latest Snapdragon and plenty of ram and good hardware. Cameras idk if others are better I barely take pictures and usually I don’t care a lot for the quality.

And the Chinese fast charging thing they have is amazing. (Also supports USB c pd quick charging although much slower)

Amir@lemmy.ml on 17 Nov 2023 07:55 next collapse

No, it’s not.

danielfgom@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 08:04 next collapse

All the reviews I’ve seen praise it. It may not be the One Plus of old but as far as phones go it’s one of the better one’s.

Grass@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 2023 08:15 collapse

I had a 1 and 5, family members had a 5t and 6. Honestly they never impressed me after the 1.

Amir@lemmy.ml on 17 Nov 2023 07:54 next collapse

OnePlus software is hot garbage now. Buy Pixel.

elbarto777@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 08:01 next collapse

I was going to say.

What’s a phone that’s inherently better than the Pixel in terms of software?

Hardware-wise, any phone with a smaller screen, an audio jack, a notification led, an SD card slot and a replaceable battery worked be better than the Pixel.

But in terms of software, I guess if there is one OS variant that would allow me to turn the wifi on/off with a single tap would win me over. But usually, variants get in the way with their modifications.

phillaholic@lemm.ee on 17 Nov 2023 23:51 collapse

My Pixel 6 Pro maybe couldn’t call 911 for a week, was vulnerable to a device take over flaw Google owns security team disclosed and wasn’t patched until a week after the 90 day public disclosure deadline, and the modem heats up the phone and kills the battery.

v3rgl@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 18:42 next collapse

Idk if calling it pathetic is fair, they put together and announced this very complex thing before Apple announced RCS.

danielfgom@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 19:42 collapse

The thing that put pressure on Apple was that other app, whose name I can’t remember, which came out a few weeks ago, and did iMessage and RCS by signing the user into an Apple Mini in their data centre and pushing the iMessage to the app on the users phone.

That is what you’d call a security nightmare! This app effectively can view all your iMessages.

THAT’S why Apple made this decision. Not because of Nothing.

Apple when said it was doing it for security, and on the RCS side will be working with Google to implement it securely and correctly.

Apple could have serious lawsuits if customers messages were being intercepted by these man-in-the-middle apps and there’s no way for Apple to stop it. They could be sued because they are at fault for not adopting RCS and thus leaving the customer open to using these shady companies.

Trust me, they don’t give a rat’s ass that some nothing company in a hole somewhere is trying to do this. At best, it might have confirmed their decision to adopt RCS because they saw yet another company (nothing) planning to do the same. Eventually you’d have tens of companies doing the same with massive privacy implications.

v3rgl@lemmy.world on 18 Nov 2023 01:32 collapse

I’m not trying to say Apple made this change because of Nothing - just that the two things are not related and this announcement doesn’t suddenly make Nothing pathetic.

danielfgom@lemmy.world on 18 Nov 2023 04:22 collapse

You’re right. Although personally I’ve always regarded them as pathetic. Their phonesc are just iPhone clones with a really stupid light gimmick on the back. Nothing special in any way, overhyped and overpriced.

CodeSalat@feddit.de on 17 Nov 2023 18:48 collapse

Hell nah, been using the OnePlus 6 for a solid 5 years, then updated to a newer model and the software turned to hot garbage in the meantime. Not touching that shit ever again.

figaro@lemdro.id on 17 Nov 2023 19:28 collapse

Arguably that was not the CEO of Nothing’s fault. He was probably beholden to Oppo the whole time

mojo@lemm.ee on 17 Nov 2023 05:26 next collapse

It’s literally nothing. In fact Nothing’s announcement is nothing. It can easily be blocked by iPhone and them announcing it so is just going to encourage Apple to do so.

Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 05:34 next collapse

IMHO, they’re getting ahead of the regulators before it gets imposed on them without contributing to the standard.

A hard cutover to present day RCS would be a giant pain in the butt and a potential experience downgrade for Macs and iPads.

Google basically controls the encryption protocol for it, and RCS still requires clients to be mapped to a phone number.

Squizzy@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 09:11 next collapse

RCS won’t change the bubble colour though?

RCS is just a newer standard isn’t it? Replacing sms? But iMessage isn’t sms or RCS.

It’s like on signal, prior to them fucking it, when someone sent an sms it would come in as normal and a signal message would be encrypted.

KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 17 Nov 2023 10:12 next collapse

Anyone who thinks this is about the color of the bubble is either misinformed, or 14 and a bully.

No one sane actually cares about the color. It could be pink, purple, green, red, blue, whatever, and people would still have the exact same problem, being that RCS is not supported, and SMS/MMS is shit in comparison.

Squizzy@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 12:15 next collapse

It’s branding and that is very powerful, something like 80-90% of teens have an iphone.

That said having functionality that integrates well is a massive step but the bubble will still be a thing because people love status symbols.

hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 12:33 collapse

The survey you’re quoting was that 90% of teens said they wanted an iPhone.

I have teens and know a lot of them right now among actual hardware they are still in 50/50 iPhone-Android at least among my kids’ friends.

Teens say they want brand-name shit all the time but reality is that most of them are toting hand-me-down hardware from their parents.

Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 2023 12:47 next collapse

This is probably a monkeypaw wish, but I almost wish my daughter was old enough to need a device. I have like 3 that are 1 generation old (long story) and she won’t need anything like that for close to a decade.

Is there a good place to sell used phones and recoup money?

hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 13:01 next collapse

Not that I’ve found. Despite feeling like they must be worth something I’ve never found an actual use case for an old smartphone besides giving it to someone who can’t afford their own. I would love to donate old phones to a social service to be given to job seekers, homeless, domestic violence victims, etc.

I’m kinda grateful iPads and tablets were hella expensive when my kids were small because now the temptation to give the baby their own iPad because they are cheap on Woot or whatever must be tremendous.

Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 2023 14:42 collapse

They aren’t that old. An S22+ an S21 and I think the oldest is an IPhone SE2.

force@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 14:48 collapse

Swappa

Squizzy@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 14:53 collapse

The survey I’m quoting does not say that, what I said is an accurate reflection of the survey results.

“87% of teens own an iPhone; 88% expect an iPhone to be their next phone; 34% own an Apple Watch”

But I didn’t cite it so partially my fault. Here is the link www.pipersandler.com/teens

Your comment is anecdotal and incorrect, this is why facts are important. Hand me down hardware can still be an iPhone.

[deleted] on 17 Nov 2023 19:29 collapse

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Squizzy@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 20:29 next collapse

That’s how surveys work, what do you want from me?

The current stats show exactly what I said they show.

[deleted] on 17 Nov 2023 22:18 collapse

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phillaholic@lemm.ee on 17 Nov 2023 23:48 collapse

At that sample size there is only a 1.043% margin of error according to Slovin’s Formula in Statistics.

[deleted] on 17 Nov 2023 12:18 next collapse

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Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works on 17 Nov 2023 12:45 collapse

So your younger than a teenager? Or your an adult, but hang around a bunch of kids?

Mazuu@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 13:11 next collapse

I think they’re a parent of a teenager.

stewsters@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 15:48 collapse

Not all dads abandon their kids to go get cigs at the gas station my guy.

drislands@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 13:15 collapse

It’s less about the bubble and more than group texts and multimedia are notoriously botched between Android and iOS. The color of the bubble tells Apple users that they should expect a worse experience.

Spiralvortexisalie@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 14:57 next collapse

Yeah once the bubbles turn green I know I am limited to MMS, so texting goes from stickers, effects, videos and image galleries to the quality of texting on a Motorola RAZR. Half of the joke about the color of the bubbles is that the green bubble people are either ignorant of or disregard the improvements in texting for the last decade. RCS I haven’t used extensively, but it has mostly felt like MMS without mime and size restrictions with the added bonus of allowing Google to access the messages.

doubletwist@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 17:59 next collapse

Half of the joke about the color of the bubbles is that the green bubble people are either ignorant of or disregard the improvements in texting for the last decade.

No, the joke is that people keep paying absured amounts of money for apple products while thinking that it was the other people who were ignorant of or disregarding said advancements, when in reality it was Apple refusing to let anyone else implement those advancements in a way that worked between platforms, and it was Apple refusing to implement anyone else’s version of those advancements.

That’s the real joke.

Spiralvortexisalie@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 18:07 collapse

RCS is not compatible with all androids, the only manufacturer I can think of that opened their builtin messaging system to everyone was BlackBerry after much request. Their system became just another messaging app since the pins were no longer tied to the Blackberry user. In either event how did apple refuse anything? Other manufacturer’s just never bothered to seriously implement anything similar. Besides what do you consider an absurd amount of money? Because an iPhone SE 2022 is often $150 in the US for prepaid (no contract) service and gets you into their ecosystem with pretty powerful hardware.

KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 17 Nov 2023 19:14 collapse

RCS is compatible with (virtually) every android phone. Why would you think otherwise?

Smokeless7048@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 18:28 next collapse

i mean, i can do all that via RCS.

So you are saying “apple has crippled my texting, but i blame anyone other than apple”. Half of the joke about the color of the bubbles is that the blue bubble people are either ignorant of or disregard the improvements in texting for the last decade.

KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 17 Nov 2023 19:05 next collapse

This isn’t a limitation on android devices, this is a limitation imposed by apple because they want the experience to be bad.

phillaholic@lemm.ee on 17 Nov 2023 23:32 collapse

It was a limitation for Android for a decade after iMessage came out because they spent the whole time half assing RCS. It’s only been like two years tops that I reliably receive RCS messages from Android to Android.

nixcamic@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 19:47 collapse

Nah just everyone else is on Telegram/signal/WhatsApp. Only iPhone users are on the stock messaging app that doesn’t work with any other brands.

stewsters@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 15:24 next collapse

The funny thing is that it is the Apple phones making it worse intentionally.

rikonium@discuss.tchncs.de on 17 Nov 2023 19:58 collapse

Not a big thing but in the days before iOS 5 and iMessage came around, all bubbles were green since it was SMS only.

Kbin_space_program@kbin.social on 17 Nov 2023 19:23 collapse

The RCS that is being pushed out is one controlled by Google.

They've been very open that the intent of this is to sell ad space via spam messages you wouldn't be able to block.

13617@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 19:35 collapse

Definitely my main issue with “RCS” it’s all controlled by Google.

nixcamic@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 19:46 collapse

Apple has been very specific that they won’t be using Google’s version of RCS, they’ll be implementing the spec and then leaving it up to your carrier.

In the US most carriers do use Google’s implementation but your carrier can already send your unblockable SMS messages.

DrRatso@lemmy.ml on 17 Nov 2023 11:26 next collapse

I find it odd that people care about this so much. I personally don’t know anyone who uses the default messaging on their phones for communication. My messages app is just security codes and ads.

sollerona@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 17 Nov 2023 15:14 next collapse

a lot of us do, especially in my country

kilgore_trout@feddit.it on 17 Nov 2023 16:40 collapse

In the United States they do

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 17 Nov 2023 16:12 next collapse

Meanwhile Beeper, doing the exact same thing as Nothing for iMessage for several years already:

*crickets

13617@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 19:34 collapse

The difference is the EU coming up quickly and nothing making it much more public than what I’ve seen from other companies like beeper

account_93@lemm.ee on 17 Nov 2023 20:01 next collapse

Nobody is lmfao

nx2@feddit.de on 18 Nov 2023 00:24 collapse

Joke never made before!

mlg@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 20:16 next collapse

If apple added RCS support like 10 years ago, this wouldn’t been a significant issue because it was well distributed and supported

As its stands now, RCS is basically Google’s crappy exploitative imessage alt that they are touting as some open standard as if they aren’t already enforcing use of google messages on android.

Not even samsung messages has full support for RCS, and they’re literally the next big OEM.

SVcross@lemmy.world on 17 Nov 2023 20:27 collapse

Maybe they knew it was going to happen and tried to capitalize on it.