There has been an on-going meme around users using imessage getting messages from other imessage users which appear as one color and messages from android users(or anyone I think?) as another. So people know you are the android user in a group of apple users or whatever.
I did not think any one gave a shit outside of kids.
I have a group of adults in my social circle who won't migrate a group chat to anything other than iMessage so that I can participate. I'm genuinely angry at them for this and angry at Apple for its role in creating the situation.
I just learned about this, too. It turns out that in the US, being an iPhone user is cool and being an Android user is lame, and you can tell who's who in group chats, because the messages that go over iMessage are represented with blue speech bubbles and the rest are in green bubbles.
That's not quite how it works. You can't have a group chat that's mixed iMessage and SMS/MMS.
If an iMessage user creates a group chat where not everyone is using iMessage, then it's MMS. I suppose now it could be RCS if everyone's using a device and carrier that supports RCS, but I haven't kept up with that. MMS has a bunch of limitations relative to any modern internet messaging app, so people don't want to use that.
Some people are also very reluctant to install third-party messaging apps.
In most countries, the most used messenger app is Whatsapp or Wechat or LINE or KakaoTalk or whatever.
In the USA, the most common messenger is iMessage. Unfortunately, unlike all the other apps I named, there's no Android app for it. Instead, if you try to iMessage an android recipient, suddenly iMessage turns into your phone's SMS app (not really sure why, feels like that should be a separate app), and half the features go away.
You can no longer remove people from group chats (if any 1 of them has an android), you get strange messages sometimes, you don't get typing indicators. If they use RCS, and then go on a vacation to a country without RCS, suddenly your chat can break in very strange ways.
As a result, it's very common in the US for people to be ostracized from iPhone friend groups due to not having an iPhone.
When you use dating apps, if eventually you trade numbers and your partner is a green bubble, that's usually enough to end any chances at a relationship. Your family will remove you from the family group chat after the first low-resolution group photo.
A company made a solution to this called Beeper Mini, allowing people to have blue bubbles while using android phones, and Apple of course immediately shut it down because Apple wants the iOS club in the US to have this tangible social benefit, of you being able to have a wider dating pool, being able to talk to your family, and so on. https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/10/apple-confirms-it-shut-...
I’m honestly not sure which is more dystopian: the American blue/green bubble divide, or the situation in Spain where my doctor sends blood test results over WhatsApp, delivery drivers call me on WhatsApp, and couriers ask me to share my live location because they can’t find my building. Nearly all day-to-day communication is funnelled through a single Meta-owned channel.
In chat on the iphone, ios users see fellow ios users with blue bubbles, but see android peasants with green bubble. There's social pressure to "be blue like everyone else" and the author caved in.
It’s a joke, just like “Apple, if that’s really your real name”.
Can you elaborate? Is this a glassmorphism reference?
There has been an on-going meme around users using imessage getting messages from other imessage users which appear as one color and messages from android users(or anyone I think?) as another. So people know you are the android user in a group of apple users or whatever.
I did not think any one gave a shit outside of kids.
I have a group of adults in my social circle who won't migrate a group chat to anything other than iMessage so that I can participate. I'm genuinely angry at them for this and angry at Apple for its role in creating the situation.
1 reply →
I just learned about this, too. It turns out that in the US, being an iPhone user is cool and being an Android user is lame, and you can tell who's who in group chats, because the messages that go over iMessage are represented with blue speech bubbles and the rest are in green bubbles.
That's not quite how it works. You can't have a group chat that's mixed iMessage and SMS/MMS.
If an iMessage user creates a group chat where not everyone is using iMessage, then it's MMS. I suppose now it could be RCS if everyone's using a device and carrier that supports RCS, but I haven't kept up with that. MMS has a bunch of limitations relative to any modern internet messaging app, so people don't want to use that.
Some people are also very reluctant to install third-party messaging apps.
2 replies →
In most countries, the most used messenger app is Whatsapp or Wechat or LINE or KakaoTalk or whatever.
In the USA, the most common messenger is iMessage. Unfortunately, unlike all the other apps I named, there's no Android app for it. Instead, if you try to iMessage an android recipient, suddenly iMessage turns into your phone's SMS app (not really sure why, feels like that should be a separate app), and half the features go away.
You can no longer remove people from group chats (if any 1 of them has an android), you get strange messages sometimes, you don't get typing indicators. If they use RCS, and then go on a vacation to a country without RCS, suddenly your chat can break in very strange ways.
As a result, it's very common in the US for people to be ostracized from iPhone friend groups due to not having an iPhone.
When you use dating apps, if eventually you trade numbers and your partner is a green bubble, that's usually enough to end any chances at a relationship. Your family will remove you from the family group chat after the first low-resolution group photo.
A company made a solution to this called Beeper Mini, allowing people to have blue bubbles while using android phones, and Apple of course immediately shut it down because Apple wants the iOS club in the US to have this tangible social benefit, of you being able to have a wider dating pool, being able to talk to your family, and so on. https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/10/apple-confirms-it-shut-...
It's a truly bizarre state of affairs.
I’m honestly not sure which is more dystopian: the American blue/green bubble divide, or the situation in Spain where my doctor sends blood test results over WhatsApp, delivery drivers call me on WhatsApp, and couriers ask me to share my live location because they can’t find my building. Nearly all day-to-day communication is funnelled through a single Meta-owned channel.
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Wanting to have iMessage so your messages show up blue instead of green when you text iPhone people
In chat on the iphone, ios users see fellow ios users with blue bubbles, but see android peasants with green bubble. There's social pressure to "be blue like everyone else" and the author caved in.
Why does everyone describe this wrong, every single time this comes up? It’s the consistency of the wrongness that confuses me.
No, you do not see others’ messages as blue or green. You see your own as blue or green to indicate what kind of messages you are sending.
If it was ever otherwise, it certainly hasn’t been for many years.
The social pressure is also technological. RCS integration was a big improvement but it's still not up to par.
It's not "ha, greens are poor", it's "android arnold can't be in the group chat because it'll fuck it all up"
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