Q: New features of iMessage useless to non iPhone recipients
If I use the new features of iMessage such as balloons floating across the screen, presumably they can only be seen where the recipient is also using an iPhone and not a Samsung?
Posted on Sep 19, 2016 10:35 PM
No, they cannot because there is no iMessage app or service for Android. iMessage only works between Apple iOS and OS X devices. Unless both the sender and recipient are using iMessage, the features specific to iMessage (and the new iMessage Apps) are unavailable.
As I said, regular SMS and MMS texts are inherently incapable of those features, and always will be. When you send to anyone not using an Apple device, you are not sending an iMessage - you are sending a regular old SMS or MMS text message using your cellular service providers system, not Apple's (SMS as a technology dates back to the late 1980's - relative to internet messaging services, SMS has huge limitations).
Don't confuse the iOS Messages app with iMessage. The Messages app is iOS's tool for sending text message. It can make use of Apple's iMessage service if both parties are using Apple products, or it will use your carriers system and your account with them to send SMS texts. iMessage is a service, not a program. Apple writes their Messages app in iOS to intelligently use the right messaging service (iMessage or SMS/MMS) depending on what it determines for the recipient's address. If that address (email or phone number) is registered with the iMessaging service, the message is sent as an iMessage. If the recipient is not registered with iMessage, it does not send as an iMessage and will switch to your carriers messaging service. And someone can only register with Apple's iMessage service from an Apple device.
Posted on Sep 20, 2016 5:31 AM