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Comment by paulie_a

6 years ago

Like pretty much every other messaging app on every phone platform currently existence?

Other messaging apps have the same features as iMessage, but not the same user experience. For example, WhatsApp has a pretty massive spam and fake news problem, and Facebook messenger is significantly slower and applies a high degree of compression on media. iMessage offers the best UX, and that’s why, in my experience, iOS users will almost always opt to use iMessage over competitors when communicating with other iOS users.

  • Depends where you live. No one I know uses SMS or iMessage. Everyone uses whatsapp. SMS is a weird appendix of a thing on your phone contract, used only for automated reminders from companies. And iMessage is pretty much useless because then you can't send messages to 60% of people, and besides, they're in whatsapp anyway.

  • The ux is very debatable. It's the same as every other messaging app now adays.

    They will opt to use imessage just the same as everyone pretty much opts to whatever is already installed. You could swap out imessage with a 1990s version of aol messenger and people would opt to use that.

    Apple does not have a monopoly on good ux. In fact a lot of it is just garbage

  • Speak for yourself, I have never encountered a spam problem on Whatsapp. Fake news - maybe, but it was from the "usual suspects" ie. people who believe in every conspiracy theory they encounter.

End-to-end encryption by default and seamless multi-device support. It's a combination of features that's currently limited to iMessage.

  • No it's not. Seamless multi device support on android includes multi vendor support too.

    • I don't understand this. What is the messenger you are talking about?

It’s the combination of features and the network effect iMessage has. That’s what makes it special to a lot of people. You get rich chat features (especially in group conversations) and you don’t have to negotiate what platform to use if everyone happens to have an iOS device.

Great for you if you live in an area where all of your friends have the same messaging app. They’re all a big step up from SMS, but there’s no messaging app I know that will reach everyone I want to talk to.

No, because at least in the US, iMessage has one thing that no other messaging app has - install base.