I asked if people chose iPhone for the blue bubbles elsewhere a couple days ago, and while there was some good discourse on that post, the blue bubbles definitely also came up as a reason.
In my experience, when people find out my texts are green, they oftentimes would rather switch to a different platform altogether like Instagram or just not text at all.
Is this actually a deal-breaker in friendships out there?
If they don’t want to text you because you don’t have an iPhone they’re not friends you want to have.
Seen this sentiment that green bubbles = bad a few times online but never it’s never come up for me. I assume this is a teen - early adult specific issue where the idea is mostly to be part of the group
It’s been happening in high schools, to the point teens are bullied and pushed out of peer groups if they have Androids. It’s frankly disgusting that apple willingly creates this division to profit off teenagers bullying each other, and they don’t get called out for it enough.
But in the larger picture, it’s definitely going to be more common among the young, because iPhones themselves are ubiquitous among the younger. It’s something the tech space is slowly starting realize: Apple has almost total market dominance among the rising demographic, and this has led to increasing tech illiteracy due to the way Apple designs its software, and inability/refusal to learn anything else. That is a huge problem for the tech industry when the only thing they can do to find customers is dumb their software down to appeal to people that don’t know how to use anything other than iOS
Perhaps in the US but it’s not so pronounced elsewhere. I think I only know one person with an iPhone.
It’s still about 30% here in Germany. It is rising though. And I think this is because of “clever” marketing. The highschools here in Germany started forcing parents to buy Ipads for their children a couple of years ago. Children with low income parents get it from the city for free. Nominally it is, because it is “easier to maintain”, but I honestly really doubt this.
But you don’t understand! The USA is the entire world! Everybody else in the world is just like Americans or wants to be!🙄
I know five people with iPhones here. I interact with almost three orders of magnitude more people than five…
Everyone 30 and under at my office prefers Macs, to the point of bringing in their own machines to do 90% of their work and falling back to the Windows laptops issued by IT for the remainder.
If you think that the reason Apple makes the bubbles different colors is “to profit of teen bullying” then I think perhaps you might want to go back to reddit or Twitter.
What a ridiculous statement.
Oh c’mon now, Apple and iOS apps have too good of a user experience? That’s the issue? You call it “dumbing down software”, I call it implementing user experience research and design.
If anybody wants to judge me based on the brand of electronics I use, my favorite band or the brand of clothes I wear, I have no interest in interacting with them lol. This whole consumerist worship-culture is just toxic.
I am an Android user but this comment should be taken very lightly. As this is not the cause the truth is that Apple is at fault here for still using SMS as the default messaging protocol. However, with that being said, SMS breaks messages on iPhone and the devices have been geared towards iPhone users in away that makes it seem like Android is the issue with image quality and texting. The marketing is excellent on Apple’s end towards the competition and it is working.
However, that doesn’t mean iPhone isn’t the problem. I have a sibling who got bullied for having an iPhone. Apple’s answer to these problems is just, “get an iPhone.” This is equivalent to, “can’t figure it out? Just Google it.” The problem with this mentality is it gives more power to monopolizing platforms. Apple is a growing giant and if they had their way you would just have an iPhone and if Apple has expressed anything in the past 8 years it’s that they aren’t exactly the innovators with mobile devices anymore. To me the problem is on an iPhone nothing would change.
A little irrelevant rant but my point is that the average iPhone consumer has been given a marketing ploy so it is a deal breaker because they think it is an issue and in all fairness it is one but only Google is trying to fix. Issue is that Google should have tried to fix it years ago. You can’t blame iPhone users for wanting to use other platforms to message you if your message is compressed heavily by Apple’s shitty and stupid fucking decision to keep using SMS to control the market. The care about user experience is overshadowed by the desire to use that as a means to make money off of a user that doesn’t understand messaging protocols. Fuck Apple.
Maybe the post has been edited between when you posted and now, but that’s not what OP is saying.
He’s saying that people don’t want to use SMS. They want to message him via some other platform.
Honestly, I’m the same way. I don’t like SMS and talk to my friends on Android via WhatsApp.
Especially for group chats of any kind, SMS is garbage compared WhatsApp, Signal, or Threema.
If they don’t want to text you because they care what your device is, they’re not friends you want to have.
(this goes both ways. Lots of apple hate in this thread but, wtf, just get on with life folks. if you give a shit what hardware I run, or think i care about your choices, we’re probably not going to be friends).
Yes, but it’s a feature, not a bug.
It’s a super low investment and quick way to identify people you should avoid.
I think this must be a cultural thing because no one in the UK sends SMS messages. Everyone just uses WhatsApp or signal or telegram. I’m android and have literally never had anyone mention the colour of my bubble. I didn’t know this was a thing!
I don’t understand the apple cult. I’ve tried their phones. I prefer Android phones.
I have heard of some people who think non apple users are subpar, but those are the ones you want to avoid.
If you live anywhere outside of the US, the question is irrelevant, because everyone uses whatsapp etc.
Within the US, if you are over the age of 30, it probably doesn’t matter.
if you are under the age of 30 AND in the US, I mean, if someone does judge you for it, you at least have a great way to filter shitty people out of your life lol.
If you think you’re better than me because you have an iPhone and I run an Android, I don’t want to talk to you anyway.
People are so fucking petty and elitist over the dumbest fucking things.
Messages is better than text. Is requesting a switch to telegram not ok? I do that mostly so we can share pictures and videos that don’t look horrible.
I use Telegram for videos also. RCS on Android has been pretty great and image quality hasn’t been an issue.
I don’t think you can use RCS unless both of you are on android though. So isn’t it reasonable to ask to use telegram or some other messaging all if you don’t both have the same platform?
Correct, RCS is only for Android. Right now it’s limited to Google Messages app and Samsung’s default texting app.
My wife has an iPhone and I run Android. Been that way for a decade or more now. Never an issue for her what colour my texts were.
And these days we use Telegram. Signal, FB Messenger, WhatsApp… There are dozens of chat apps out there that work cross-platform easily.
Sure, but that isn’t the issue that’s being discussed. Unless I’m reading this whole thing wrong, this has more to do with people excluding others, WHOLLY, because they don’t have an iPhone.
The op is conflating two different things weirdly.
In my experience, when people find out my texts are green, they oftentimes would rather switch to a different platform altogether like Instagram or just not text at all.
I totally understand wanting to move the conversation to a different platform or format.
The last line about it being a friendship dealbreaker is weird though.
Last line and title are the same.
Now you’re just being pedantic. Both points were made. I was talking about one of them.
In some social circles, yes. Teenagers tend to cling into anything that could potentially be interpreted as a social status symbol or group identity - in the US, for some bizarre reason, people still use the default messaging app and SMS so iMessage and it’s “green vs blue bubble” design immediately fills this space. This can also show up in very shallow dating scenes, like someone using Tinder and just looking for a random hook up with a nice dinner beforehand - they could see the iPhone as a sign of wealth and available money to spend.
But for most adults, living normal lives… I don’t think so. At least, never have been an issue with any of my friends, family members, academic peers, coworkers…
If your “friends” make so much fuss over text bubbles, probably the best course of action is to find better friends.
Let me guess, you are from the United States? Every time I heard about this is only from the US, never see anyone outside giving a single fuck about that.
Also, do you really wanna be friend with someone that choose friendship by the phone their friend uses? WtfYou can have a preference, even a strong one. You can also discuss it with people. But shutting people out because of their phone? That’s a major personality red flag anyway.
Its only a dealbreaker if you are dealing with someone who is exceedingly vapid and worthless as a human being, and you should be grateful for it, because it lets you know real quick not to waste another ounce of effort on their dumb asses.
People that buy Apple are some of the most superficial beings on this planet.
Who gives a fuck about text bubbles?
Find friends that aren’t so shallow.
This is so American…
“Let me send an SMS, while I ride my horse to go to my bank and do other things that people used to do in 1870.”
“Oh, their SMS color is different! I dislike people with a different color than me.”
Are you 14? In that case maybe.
I love the blue bubble thing being a … thing.
It makes identifying people who are a waste of time really easy. Making a big deal out of the colour of a text message bubble? Smell ya later loser, you ain’t worth investing any time in.
Move on lads. If someone’s shallow enough to care about the brand of phone you use they can go sniff farts for all I care. I ain’t following them in their campaign to give the worlds richest company more money. It reminds me of that fundraiser to make one of those reality TV dickheads a billionaire by donating them cash. Like how does transferring some of your small amount of wealth to their giant pool of wealth somehow boost your own… anything?? Probably the second stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
