Apple’s exclusive lock-in strategy has harmed me. Yes, Apple produces fantastic phones with cutting-edge specs and features, and the majority of my contacts own iPhones. This means I get all of iMessage’s capabilities, like Memoji, new group chat features, and the ability to transition from a chat to a FaceTime video or audio call with ease. However, if I wish to delve deeper into the Android ecosystem, all of those features become disadvantages.
Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about iMessage coming to Android. It’s a fantasy that Apple executives are quick to dismiss. Of course, it’s in Apple’s best interests to make switching to Android as difficult as possible for iPhone owners. Emails from Apple executives, cited in recent court records in the Epic Games court battle over App Store noncompetitive practices, make this quite clear.
iMessage has long been the only cross-platform messaging service: Skype, WhatsApp, and secure messaging apps like Signal and Telegram all function on Android, iPhone, Windows, and Mac. It would be ideal if you could never use iMessage and instead make a competitive app the iPhone’s default messaging app, however this isn’t possible in the United States because iMessage is coupled to SMS messaging.
You won’t be able to use the web client!
It would have been a piece of cake for Apple to integrate iMessage into its iCloud online portal. Photos, Find My Phone, email, drive folders, and collaborative online office programs are all part of this service. In comparison to other services, messaging is a stroll in the park, and Google had no issue making its own Messages program available in any web browser on any device. Skype and Facebook Messenger, in addition to having iOS and Android clients, also have good web interfaces, so it’s not like Apple would be a trailblazer if it delivered iMessage on the web.
Obstacles to Switching to Android
Recent iPhone issues, such as iOS system stability and a hardware breakdown that stops me from utilizing Face ID, have made me want to switch to an Android phone like the Samsung Galaxy S21 or a Google Pixel 5. (though I hesitate to use a device from that data-slurping giant).
Sure, I could use Samsung’s Smart Switch or another third-party tool to transfer my messages (along with applications and other data) from my iPhone to a new Android, but that would still prevent me from giving a thumbs-up or heart to a family member’s group chat message. Don’t even get me started on the inferiority complex I’d feel if my texts had green chat bubbles instead of the iPhone blue ones. On the other side, only other individuals in the conversation will be able to see them, so I guess I can live with it.
Apple has demonstrated that it is perfectly capable of making its proprietary apps and services cross-platform, but only when it benefits the Cupertino-based firm’s bottom line. Apple Music on Android, iTunes on Windows, and Apple TV+ on Fire TV are all great options.
So here’s my request to Apple (which will almost certainly go unheeded): Make iMessages available on Android, Windows, and the web. You’ll almost certainly lose at least one iPhone customer if you don’t.
