Android begs Apple to invite him to the SMS party

Google has done a lot to make RCS, or Rich Communication Services, the standard messaging protocol on all mobile platforms. It worked with all US carriers including AT&T and Verizon, to make Messages by Google the default application, where RCS is supported. Iyou pruned his list of unnecessary messaging applications and consolidated only the most essential. And he is now encrypting Apple to play well.

Yesterday, the company’s senior vice president of Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer, indirectly called out Apple in a cheeky tweet. It all started when Golf Digest reported on professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau’s tough times as the only green bubble in a group chat. One of DeChambeau’s teammates called him pain that he was the only player on the U.S. Ryder Cup team without an iPhone.

Lockheimer tweeted in solidarity. “Group chats don’t need to break this way,” he wrote, adding that there is a “really clear solution” to DeChambeau’s problem with his teammates – clearly an acrostic referring to RCS . Lockheimer ended the tweet by urging anyone “who can fix it” to call on Google for help adding compatibility.

Google is working on migrating its Android user base to RCS for years. However, it was a slightly confusing process as carriers dove in and out of supporting the standard before finally settling there. The SMS-based protocol is a feature-rich version of the standard text message that has been around for over a decade. Many US Android users should now have access to its features, including read receipts, input status, and location sharing, provided you are communicating with a compatible Android device. RCS also enables end-to-end encryption– something iPhone users have quietly enjoyed in iMessage for quite some time now.

Apple is not interested by supporting RCS, however, because it doesn’t have to. The company’s proprietary iMessage protocol has worked well for its users in its well-maintained walled garden. This is why the term “green bubble” has become a common derogatory term to refer to the only Android friend in iMessage group chat.

Google will likely continue to try to openly try to attract one of its biggest competitors to join its messaging group, as Apple is the latest obstacle to converting to RCS. Right now, one of the biggest criticisms against the search giant is that it has already botched its messaging rollout, first confusing everyone with a mass of messaging apps, and then waiting too long to switch to RCS.

At the very least, Android users finally have a unified messaging platform that they can collectively rely on to interact with each other. But the only way we’re likely to see some parity between Android messages and Apple’s iMessage is through third-party hijackings like Beep, which claim to route messages through the appropriate servers to help bridge the huge platform gap.