In the first iOS 17 beta, Apple allows iOS users to keep some iMessage features even with an Android user present
As you might know by now, all of the lovely features that iMessage gives iOS users such as end-to-end encryption, read receipts, typing indicators, higher-quality images and video, and blue text bubbles all go away and the messaging platform reverts back to ancient SMS/MMS features once an Android user becomes part of a group chat. But to be fair, all of these features are part of the RCS Chat experience for Android users and they disappear too once an iOS user invades a previously all RCS group chat.
Since last year, Google has been pressuring Apple to support RCS
But according to XDA, on the first iOS 17 beta it seems that if one Android user joins a previously all-iOS messaging session, the iPhone users will still get to edit texts, reply in threads, and receive the high quality images and video that they would normally get in iMessage. The difference is that only the Android interloper will not experience any of these. For example, let’s say that there are three iOS users in a group chat and one Android user. The latter will not be able to see an edited text or a high-quality video that the other three can.
Is this the first step toward detente and lasting peace in the smartphone world?
Still, if this feature makes it to the final version of iOS 17, it might lessen some of the anger lobbed at an Android user who is the minority in a group chat. But what needs to happen is for both Apple and Google to create one unified cross-platform messaging service that will allow iMessage and RCS users to come together and chat without any degradation in image quality or loss of any features.
