this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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The thing is... The bubble colors do matter. But people aren't caring about the colors for the right reasons.
The color matters because the color has to do with the security of that message.
Sending a message through the iMessage protocol is more secure than SMS/MMS.
People should care that their messages are secure and private (and they do care, they just don't always realize it or know it yet). Unfortunately, the people behind the whole blue vs. green bubble culture war don't seem to focus on this security aspect, which is actually what/why it matters.
As an Apple investor who would benefit from more iPhone sales, "Buy an iPhone" is not the right response/solution to this problem, despite what Tim Apple says.
Choose open source. Say no to walled gardens.
Use—and donate to—Signal.
Greetings from GrapheneOS, as a former iOS and stock Android user.
So you're saying if the Android messaging app were to suddenly change its security overnight, the bubble colors would change by default?
Nope. I suppose in theory it could, but not necessarily—it'd be up to Apple/Google to make the color decisions regarding that.
The important thing here is that it's not about the colors themselves, but about what the colors signify.
Apple chose blue to denote that the message you're sending is to another Apple device. By default, this Apple-to-Apple message uses the iMessage protocol. If it uses iMessage, then that implies a certain security standard.
Apple also made the deliberate choice to denote non-iMessage texts with green. If it's green, then it's SMS/MMS, you lose iMessage encryption, and other features like reactions.
The colors are not gonna change by default—it's up to them to coordinate what colors are used for what. Apple's not gonna open up iMessage (at least not voluntarily, and we saw how far they'll go with Beeper), so Google can't do anything about that. Which is also why they're pushing so hard to get Apple to adopt RCS.
If Apple does adopt RCS, maybe they'll denote it with purple bubbles, who knows. Then you'd have iMessage as blue, RCS as purple, and SMS/MMS as green.
But again, this is all about what each color signifies in terms of privacy and security.