Google is blaming Apple for a litany of problems faced by people sending text messages between iPhones and Android devices — and is calling on Tim Cook’s company to “fix texting.”
Apple has refused to update the technology it uses for text messages, resulting in blurry videos and problems with group chats when exchanging messages with Android devices, according to Google.
Popular iMessage features like read receipts, typing indicators and texting over WiFi could also exist between Apple and Android devices if Apple were to update its technology, Google says.
The search giant even blasted Apple for making text messages on iPhones appear in differently colored bubbles than iMessages, saying that using “white text on a bright green background” makes the messages “difficult to read.”
“These problems exist because Apple refuses to adopt modern texting standards,” Google fumed in a new online campaign. “It’s time for Apple to fix texting.”
Currently, Apple converts messages between iPhones and Andoids into SMS and MMS messages, which are older technology standards that have been around for decades.
Google blames the “outdated” standards for most of the messaging issues between iPhones and Androids. The Android maker wants Apple to adopt a newer messaging standard, called Rich Communication Services — or RSC — that the company says would fix virtually all of the messaging issues between differently branded devices.
“The bad experience you get when texting Android users is created by Apple,” Google said. “But they can fix it by switching from SMS/MMS to RCS, the modern industry standard. And everyone’s experience would be better.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
