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If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a joke about the green text bubbles on your Android device when messaging an iPhone user, your misery will soon be coming to an end.
Tech giant Apple has announced plans to add new features to its messaging services, which will bring Android users into the fold and end the long-standing debate of iOS’ blue versus Android’s green.
In November, Apple revealed it would be adding in a whole lot of new features in its messaging serice - meaning you'll soon be able to change the color of your text bubbles.
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Apple plans to adopt a messaging standard which will bring iMessage features to Android users, including typing indicators, read receipts and better support for group chats.
The company said in a statement that it would also add more support for the Rich Communication Service (RCS) next year, which is considered to be an alternative to SMS messaging between iPhone and Android users.
“We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS," Apple said.
“This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.”
However, Apple hasn’t always been open to these kinds of changes.
In a previous meeting when someone asked Apple CEO Tim Cook about being unable to send certain videos to their mom, Cook replied: “Buy your mom an iPhone.”
But Apple’s big blue walls could soon be lowered for Android users, after pressure from regulators and competitors to make their products more collaborative with the wider market.
“Everyone deserves to communicate with each other in ways that are modern and secure, no matter what phone they have,” Google said in a statement.
“That’s why we have worked closely with the mobile industry to accelerate the adoption of RCS, and we’re happy to see Apple take their first step today by coming on board to embrace RCS.
“We welcome Apple’s participation in our ongoing work with GSMA to evolve RCS and make messaging more equitable and secure, and look forward to working with them to implement this on iOS in a way that works well for everyone.”
Dipanjan Chatterjee, a VP principal analyst at Forrester Research, said that the move would be a “win-win for all” in that other customers “get to inhabit Apple’s world, but also play nicely with others”.
