Comment by brailsafe
2 years ago
> Apple doesn't control the featureset of SMS.
If they control how SMS is received and displayed, they absolutely do control the featureset of SMS. On Android it's trivial to use different SMS apps, the receiver gets to decide how, if at all, they'll be separated.
Apple cannot add typing notifications, end-to-end encryption, and reaction support to SMS.
Apple does not control the featureset of SMS.
Technically not in general but practically yes on iOS since it's either just SMS, MMS or iMessage on iOS instead of also RCS. That's a constraint they enforce on the colloquial SMS experience, it's limited to whatever they decide it is, and they decide that it's strictly old tech.
Saying they don't control SMS is like saying they don't control HTTPS or access to the web. Sure they don't get dictate the protocol itself, but they do control practically the singular implementation of it on their platform, heavily influence what people can do with it, and also control the entire software stack underneath. My iPad 3 is functionally useless despite being just as capable as it ever was (not very) because although it can still run apps, I'm only allowed to run whatever happens to still be on the app store.
No, that...doesn't work.
Sure, if Apple wanted to, they could implement some kind of layer over SMS, using "hidden" characters sent with each message, that would let it act as if it has features like typing notifications and reactions. I'm...not 100% sure whether they could do the same with E2EE between iPhones, but let's say for the sake of argument they could.
That still doesn't change the situation between iPhones and Android phones. In fact, it makes it worse, because SMSes to Android phones would have all this garbage in them—but the main point is that Apple can't add any of that stuff to SMS between iPhones and non-iPhones.
Apple does not control the featureset of SMS.
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