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Messaging Just Changed Forever

Messaging Just Changed Forever

RCS, at long last.

Brandon Butch
June 28, 2024 • 📖 Read time: 8 minutes

Welcome back! 🍎
Here’s the latest with Apple.

Apple rejected Meta
Messaging has changed forever
Apple vs EU (again)
& more!

📖 Read time: 3.7 minutes

📊 Poll

Last week, I asked: Do you use 3rd party apps to record video with more control?

Here are some of my favorite replies:

Yes - “I use both the native camera app and a 3rd party camera app, it just depends on what I am using it for. If I was recoding a video of my dog, I would use the native camera app but if I was taking a video of a car, I would use a 3rd party camera app.”

No - “I used to use ones like Camera+ back in the day, but for almost everything I use it for (family photos, events, etc) the default works well and has enough editing tools to make things look good without having too many unnecessary options in the way. I have Blackmagic and some others installed but almost never use them.”

This week: Do you think RCS will solve all of the issues with messaging Android users? More on this later.

Will RCS solve all issues with messaging Android users?

🗞️ The Latest

✌️ Apple Rejects Meta

Earlier in the week, WSJ suggested that Apple & Meta were in active discussions about integrating Llama into iOS 18’s Apple Intelligence. Turns out, that’s not the case.

Days after that report was published, Bloomberg reported that the discussions between Meta and Apple were no longer active.
Not only that, but Apple was never seriously considering a partnership in the first place.
Why? Privacy concerns.
“Apple decided not to move forward with formal Meta discussions in part because it doesn’t see that company’s privacy practices as stringent enough.”
Plus, Apple sees ChatGPT as a superior offering and Google as an easy future partner because of their existing partnership.

Looks like the rivalry will continue!

My take: We all know that Apple’s stance on privacy is much different from Meta’s, so it’s no surprise that Apple doesn’t want Apple Intelligence to be associated with Meta’s Llama model.

It also wouldn’t be surprising if the reason this partnership didn’t work out is because Meta didn’t want their queries/data being routed through Apple’s private cloud database before giving the end-user the result.

💬 Messaging Just Greatly Improved

RCS in action (via X)

Rich Communication Services, or RCS, has finally arrived for the iPhone! This replaces the ancient SMS/MMS standard from 2002.

After promising the feature last year, iPhone users can now take advantage of RCS with iOS 18 Beta 2.
This will allow you to text non-iPhone users without as much limitation.
Some of the advantages are: full-quality media files, no character limit, typing indicators, emoji tapbacks, Wi-Fi messaging to Android users, and more.
Android bubbles are still green when messaging them via RCS. Only the messaging standard is changing, not Apple’s proprietary iMessage service.
This currently only works on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile in the US.

My take: Finally, no more annoying group chats or videos getting compressed to death!

This makes texting Android users so much more…fulfilling? Not sure how to explain it but it feels more like I’m messaging another iPhone user now. You just have to get the “green bubble vs blue bubble” thought out of your head.

📲 The EU is Being Left Out

MacRumors

The drama surrounding Apple and the EU has been impossible to ignore over the past year. Now, it’s getting worse.

Apple said that European customers will not get access to 3 of Apple’s upcoming features at launch: Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring, and SharePlay Screen Sharing.
These are some of Apple’s biggest features coming later this Fall with iOS 18 & macOS Sequoia. And the EU will be missing out on all of them (at launch) due to regulatory issues related to the Digital Markets Act.
It’s unclear how long it will take Apple to bring these features to the EU and what they’ll have to change in order to comply with the DMA.

Due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act, we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these [new] features -- iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements, and Apple Intelligence -- to our EU users this year.

Apple spokesman

My take: This is a huge disappointment for EU users, especially missing out on Apple Intelligence. All 3 of these features will likely come to the EU at some point but who knows when that will be, and what functions will be omitted in order to comply with EU/DMA law.

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