Google tries to make iPhone and Android texting less terrible despite Apple’s resistance

You may test out responding to texts sent from iPhones in Google Messages.

To provide both Android and iPhone users with a better texting experience, Google has been nagging Apple to implement RCS for iMessage. However, since the service serves as an ecosystem lock-in for Apple, the Cupertino behemoth has little incentive to improve iMessage’s compatibility with Android. Google has been attempting to address several common texting annoyances between iPhone and Android without assistance from the manufacturer of the iPhone. Google Messages was modified in February to accommodate iPhone reactions; to do this, the company essentially translated iMessage reactions into something identifiable on Android. Google is now testing the ability for Android users to reply to messages sent by iPhone users.

A Reddit user discovered that Google Messages now allows him to reply to texts from iPhone users. The message will then appear as follows for the original text sender who is using an iPhone: (emoji) to “(message)”. Nevertheless, the latter may irritate iPhone users. Even if you are using the most recent Google Messages beta, it’s possible that this functionality won’t appear on your device because Google appears to be rolling it out as a server-side push. You can try your luck and see if you can reply to an iPhone user’s SMS via Google Messages if you frequently text them.

Android users can currently only respond to messages sent from other Android devices. They could only see iPhone-sent reactions; no other messages could be responded to.

Being able to respond to messages might not seem like a big problem if you use WhatsApp, Telegram, or any other messaging app. However, this is because these apps work as well on both Android and iPhone and are platform-neutral. When you send ordinary SMS from one platform to another, that is not the case. In order to provide a similar messaging experience across all OSes, Google has been urging Apple to use RCS for iMessage as a fallback. Apple, though, has resisted opening up iMessage since the closed system helps to bind users to its devices.