Last week Google revealed its Pixel phone, or "Google phone" as Google’s own search trends have determined. The promise of a premium-feeling Android phone, with a new virtual assistant and access to the latest Android software, is tantalizing enough to make even the most content iPhone users consider a switch at upgrade time.
As someone who vacillates between iOS and Android fairly often, but who considers a lightly cracked iPhone 6S her daily driver, I’m also considering whether the Pixel phone is the next phone to buy. All of the software I use now is available on Android: all of my top email, calendar, music, fitness, photography, task-based, work collaboration, and social networking apps are there.
But one app is not, and that’s iMessage. Every time someone has asked me if they should switch, I ask them one question: do you use iMessage? If the answer is "Yes," the Pixel decision becomes that much more difficult.
Over time, iMessage has become indispensable in my everyday life. If the gadgets I have to carry with me on a daily basis are the bones of my tech existence, iMessage is the connective tissue. It’s quick work chats; it’s sharing location on the way to a meeting or dinner; it’s sending a GIF of a hug to a friend who is having a bad day; it’s keeping in touch with mom; it’s getting a series of poop emojis from my niece on her iPod Touch.
Many of these functions are just what messaging is, and can be done on other apps, too; I also use Messenger and Snapchat. Google has just rebooted its entire messaging strategy, launching both Allo (an intelligent text messaging app) and Duo (the video messaging app below), which will supplant Hangouts as the default video app on Android phones. But other messaging apps feel like disparate, fragmented experiences, whereas iMessage has collated most people I communicate with into one place.
iMessage, of course, isn’t the only incentive for established iPhone users to stick with Apple. Apple’s ongoing emphasis on privacy and security helps make the case, especially when it comes to authentication and payments. Another possible incentive is early access to apps. A lot of software developers I talk to still build for iOS first, despite the fact that the Google Play Store sees many more downloads. This is partially because it’s easier to develop for iOS — there are only so many devices to optimize for, compared with the Android hardware ecosystem — but also due to the amount of money people spend in Apple’s App Store compared with Google’s.
But the main draw of iOS is really interoperability between iPhone and other Apple products, and nothing is stickier in that regard than iMessage (for better or worse). Is "continuity" a good feature? Sure, the Mail app pops up in the dock on my laptop when I’m composing an email on the iPhone, but I rarely take advantage of that. Is accepting a phone call over Wi-Fi on the laptop convenient? Yeah, but the call quality isn’t very good and it’s a last-resort option for me. iMessage is the core app I use most between the Apple devices I own or try out.
Back in June, when Apple showed off a bunch of new iMessage features and said it would be opening up iMessage to third-party app developers, some people wondered whether the company would go even a step further and bring iMessage to Android phones. It was a valid question in the "who-really-knows-what-Apple-will-do" sense, but still, the idea made little sense to me. Of course Apple wasn’t going to allow iMessage to function on Android: iMessage is the glue that keeps people stuck to their iPhones and Macs.
That’s not to say iMessage is perfect; it’s not. There are times when that interoperability between desktop and phone just doesn’t work like it’s supposed to, like when group threads get chopped up into separate, unwieldy threads. And let’s not forget that Apple rolled out features like GIFs and sticker packs long after other popular messaging apps did. And if you have made the jump from iOS to Android, you know just how ridiculously frustrating it is to have your text messages lost into the ether, due to the screwy way the data-to-SMS transition is handled.
But for a company that has failed at most attempts to create social networks, Apple has inadvertently built one with all of those little blue bubbles. Google’s new Pixel might very well be the high-end Android phone we’ve all be waiting for. Its virtual assistant may be smarter, and Google certainly has Apple beat in terms of volume of messaging apps. But for addicted iMessage users, it might feel impossible to quit.
Comments
Is iMessage mostly an American thing? As a genuine question? It seems that here in Europe WhatsApp is by far the largest ‘SMS social network’… possibly down to Androids larger market share, it’s low data consumption and cross platform nature (I see a fair few cheap Lumia windows phones still on public transport)… this would make Apple bringing iMessage cross platform logical as Facebook is pretty much eating their lunch, especially if they want to use the data for Siri in the future.
Also remember that ‘bug’ with SMS in iMessage when you cross platform, which is incredibly annoying when your back up phone is an old iPhone.
By wudboro on 10.10.16 9:44am
Exactly. Nobody uses iMessage here. Messenger, Viber and Whatsapp…
By Rage47 on 10.10.16 9:50am
That’s quite an absolute statement.
By ddjeff on 10.10.16 9:55am
It was some obvious hyperbole.
By lusional on 10.10.16 11:51am
Not that much hyperbole though…
In the past year I’ve received MAYBE 10 iMessages. The rest is all WhatsApp.
For context, I’m in Costa Rica and most of my friends and family are in South Africa and Europe.
By lesterhein on 10.10.16 12:50pm
I think it was pretty obvious the way they meant it though. Obviously they don’t mean 100% of people in Europe don’t use iMessage, but as someone who spends a lot of time in Europe I can tell you that most people don’t use iMessage there.
By OkComputer on 10.10.16 12:42pm
In Denmark (which is indeed a part of Europe) around 47% of all smartphones sold are iPhones. And every iPhone user I know use iMessage. On top of this Facebook messenger and Snapchat are also very popular.
By flottenheimer on 10.11.16 3:21am
It’s funny how everyone’s circles are different!
I’m in the UK and messages sent and received are 95% iMessage/SMS with a touch of Skype.
Never used Messenger, and have received 3 messages on WhatsApp this year.
iMessage certainly doesn’t keep me with iPhone though. If I had Android, I’d just use purely SMS like I did before iPhone.
By kayzee on 10.11.16 5:42am
Indeed, everyone’s circle is different. I’m in the UK and would say it’s 90% WhatsApp and 10% Facebook Messenger for myself. It’s very rare i’ll receive or send an SMS these days.
By InsaneNutter on 10.11.16 8:36am
Can I ask what age you are? I think it possibly makes an even bigger difference that where you live… I’m 32.
By kayzee on 10.12.16 2:49pm
In South America, I would say it’s an absolutely correct statement.
Except to keep up with friends in the States, the only messaging app you need is WhatsApp. It’s so ubiquitous that when businesses display their phone numbers, instead of a phone icon next to them, there’s a WhatsApp icon.
iMessage use is certainly far less than 1%, if not less than one tenth of 1%.
By SwimsAfterEating on 10.10.16 1:40pm
I’ve never used any of those apart from a 48 hour dalliance with a WhatsApp that made me regret ever installing it.
iMessage is far and away the message app I use the most, followed by Facebook Messenger and then nothing else
I live in the UK
By theronster on 10.10.16 9:59am
Same. I live in France.
By filss on 10.10.16 10:39am
same (uk)
By peejaybee on 10.10.16 11:03am
And me (UK).
I only use WhatsApp when I have to (when the other person doesn’t have an iPhone). The idea of Facebook stealing all my messages doesn’t sit right with me, plus I don’t really like the WhatsApp interface. And I like stickers and adding GIFs to messages and stuff. iMessage is the one.
By tomdotcom.uk on 10.10.16 11:56am
You’re aware that WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted at quite a bit of a higher standard than iMessage, I hope?
By SwimsAfterEating on 10.10.16 1:44pm
iMessage has been end to end encrypted since it’s inception. yes, even FaceTime calls too.
watsapp started end to end in april 2016 but metadata is still stored and shared with fb.
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/04/3-potential-holes-in-whatsapps-end-to-end-encryption/
By Vincentv on 10.11.16 12:20am
Except it’s not. There was a US court case regarding Apple and it’s encryption with the phones.
By Lomifeh on 10.11.16 10:59am
Except it is and here’s an apple document and a techcrunch.com article that explains how this works.
http://www.apple.com/privacy/approach-to-privacy/
https://techcrunch.com/2014/02/27/apple-explains-exactly-how-secure-imessage-really-is/
By Vincentv on 10.20.16 6:36am
Same, though I do have WhatsApp installed for a couple of Androidy friends. Also UK.
By toomuchcoffee on 10.10.16 12:33pm
I’m in a similar boat. I estimate I use "iMessage" 80% of the time, with the rest mostly divided between Facebook Messenger and plain SMS. Once or twice a year I may have a brief WhatsApp or Skype exchange (I use Skype audio more often though).
By daveedvdv on 10.10.16 12:37pm
Same. NL
By McJabberclackers on 10.10.16 1:39pm
It’s the same in Australia. Almost all iMessage with FaceBook Messenger for non-iPhone users.
No doubt it is a case of where Apple is strongest. Apple is strong not only in the USA (the second largest smartphone market in the world) with 31% to 43% market share, but Apple also captures between 17-27% smartphone market share in China – the largest smartphone market in the developed or the developing world according to Kantar. (variations due to seasonal fluctuations)
In addition Apple also captures 32-45% market share in Australia, 37-39% in the UK, 14-24% in Germany and a massive 38-54% in Japan to name some of Apple’s other major markets around the world.
However, quarterly smartphone marketshare is not actually the most important metric to consider for messaging apps – active installed base is. Apple recently reported there are over 1 Billion active Apple devices worldwide (of which around 900m were iOS devices back in January). Since that time Apple has sold another 170m iOS devices.
In contrast, Google reports they only have 1.4 Billion active Android devices (smartphones AND tablets).
By Rocwurstt on 10.10.16 7:46pm
I can also confirm as an Australian, that it’s pretty much iMessage or Facebook Messenger over here.
By Prone2Anxiety on 10.11.16 12:41am
I’m in Canberra, Australia and honestly I see so little iMessage, SMS and Whatsapp. Its pretty much all FB Messenger, and Apple has a huge market share as well (just at a guess I would say 40-50% of the phones I see people with are iphones). But SMS usage seems to have really died among younger people, Messenger is just so easy…. At work we have a FB group, all my friends are friends with me on FB and thus no need to get phone numbers or worry about correct contact detail or what platform there on. Even those high percentage of iPhone users seem to use FB Messenger, keep in mind however that I have just finished school so I am in a demographic that has less problems adopting new technologies, that being said my parents use WhatsApp + SMS and my granparents use SMS in conjunction with Skype and Messenger.
Messenger also has better features than iMessage as well (in my opinion), if your on Android its really hard to leave that floating chat heads behind once you become used to it, I tried to switch to Allo (which is a solid app) but the lack of that is really holding me back (oh and u know less users). I had no problems switching from an iOS device to Android at the start of the year because hardly anyone I know uses iMessage anymore, it was all FB Messenger.
I have a very large extended family up in Queensland, probably about 50 cousins, uncles/aunts and cousins partners and children and lets not even go past that . But anyway the point being is that NONE OF THEM use Android devices, there all very wealthy and its a system there invested in and while certainly there are some of them that still use iMessage the majority use WhatsApp, Viper and Messenger. They aren’t necessarily tech literate either, a lot of them don’t even know what Android is, ur either on Apple or on Samsung
This article surprises me, ur tech reviewers! I am surprised you spend more than 3 months on 1 phone or laptop. I’m surprised that you managed to get locked into iMessage when I know people who most people they know use apple products and don’t use iMessage excessively. How do u even get locked into iMessage, your entire family, all your friends and colleagues use it??? I would understand this from someone who didn’t review tech and ultimately I respect that, iMessage is a great messaging service. In my opinion its not the best but its certainly the most seamless (a lot of people don’t even realise there using it, it just works for them). But I just can’t quite grasp iMessage is so important to you, when I changed a year ago I was scared that by buying a budget phone (OnePlus X) I would be losing the great look, feel and ease of use of both the hardware and software (fears I quickly found out to be unjustified) but iMessage…. I had just assumed that people had moved to more complete messaging options as thats what those around me had done, its what the insane global market share of WhatsApp and to a lesser extent hint to.
By JamesAdina on 10.11.16 4:03am