is there a way to use imessage on android

Or, even better, it would be free, a service that Apple sees as adding value to its overall brand rather than, as it is today, a lock-in mechanism for iPhones. Or Apple would bundle it into a wider iCloud subscription, which would likely make it easier to justify the cost. But lately, with the iPhone train slowing and the company increasingly putting its focus on services revenue, there's an argument to be made that enough Android users subscribing to iMessage at $5 or $10 per month would make the investment worthwhile. As recent as six months ago, the notion would have been absurd - the company's finances didn't warrant any such entreaty to the other side. A small but vocal set of people continue to argue that Apple should bring iMessage to Android. In practice, the experience is quite similar to iMessage, with one important difference: RCS does not support end-to-end encryption.

Similar to iMessage, once two devices 'shake hands,' all of these features kick in automatically. RCS brings most of the features we take for granted in nearly every messenger - support for longer conversations, high-quality images and video, scalable group chats, file transfers, and lots more - to the Android user's native SMS app.

And the largest, most impactful way Apple could do that is to release iMessage on Android. The Verge's Dieter Bohn argued earlier this year that there's a 'moral case for iMessage on Android,' noting that while there isn't much of a business case for Apple to bring iMessage to Android, there is one that appeals to the greater good.Įvery time I hear Tim Cook talk about privacy as a human right, I think about the biggest thing his company could do to help ensure that privacy: spread the ability for people to have conversations that are safe from government snooping across the world. While right now it's limited to a few apps and carriers, the eventual goal is for every phone on every carrier to natively support RCS and make something like iMessage for Android unnecessary.Įxcept for one thing: end-to-end encryption. Heralded as the Great Messaging Unifier, RCS builds on traditional SMS in the same texting app that ships with your phone. Hangouts and Allo fizzled as consumer products, so it's worked with the GSMA - the standards body and carrier advocacy group - to implement RCS Univeral Profile across a number of devices. Google's tried to compete with iMessage, directly and indirectly, for years.

Is there a way to use imessage on android