Google launches a campaign to criticize Apple for not adopting the RCS standard

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Rich Communication Service (RCS) is the successor to SMS and MMS on Android. The debate between the blue bubble and the green bubble has been going on for a long time and often sees users switch platforms to avoid peer-shaming. In an attempt to put an end to this situation, Google asked Apple to switch from its restricted iMessage platform to “Rich Communication Services” (or RCS)to enable streaming texting on iPhone and Android devices.

Apple having turned a blind eye to these demands, Google decided to adopt a more aggressive strategy. Android maker publicly calls out iPhone maker, asks people to join its campaign to urge Apple to make the switch.

For those who don’t know, when an Apple user sends a message to another Apple user through iMessage, they see a blue bubble. On the other hand, if an Android user starts a conversation with an Apple user, the latter will see a green bubble (switching to SMS and MMS) for SMS sent by an Android user. The Cupertino giant created this disparity to remind users of the OS difference in iMessage. Well, that’s an inconvenience for users in many countries.

Google is unhappy with Apple’s stance and has urged it to move to RCS for interoperability. As all its previous requests have remained a dead letter, the Mountain View giant has launched a public campaign to remind Apple of its refusal to adopt the RCS protocol for its messaging service. Google has set up a dedicated “Get the Message” website, which lays out arguments why Apple should switch to RCS and enable smoother messaging between iPhones and Android devices.

The Mountain View giant talks about the problems Android users have when talking to iMessage users on iPhone. “These include blurry videos, interrupted group chats, missing read receipts and typing indicators, inability to text over Wi-Fi, and more.“explains Google on its website. Apple refuses to adopt modern RCS standards and switches to SMS and MMS for Android users, the company adds. She even created the hashtag “#GetTheMessage”, as well as an easy link to tweet about this issue to Apple on Twitter.

A real interest

Additionally, Google’s website highlights social media posts and news articles that have talked about the blue and green bubble issue over the years. It also gives reasons why Apple should switch to RCS and clarifies that RCS is more secure (encrypted), allows users to share uncompressed images, enables message flags, return receipts and all other modern email features.

Hiroshi Lockheimer, SVP of Google, also rallied to this cause and publicly tweeted about the benefits of using RCS and urged Apple to enable it on its devices. However, the Cupertino giant remained silent on the matter.

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