You can also copy and paste the messages, or screenshot them. Nobody is arguing it’s impossible to extract your iMessages, just that it’s more restrictive and complicated than it needs to be for technical or resource constraint reasons.
If you own a Mac, you can find the SQLite database of your messages at ~/Library/Messages/chat.db. Back it up regularly. If using a terminal, be sure to grant it Full Disk Access.
...yes? That was always a large part of the Apple ecosystem, and it purposefully being Apple-only has been shown in advertisements ever since it was created.
Business plain and simple. iOS lives, and dies by its already low market share of ~15% in the USA.
Making iMessage accessible on all platforms is a win for the end user, but almost surely results in existing iPhone users moving to Android. Kiss your already tiny, non-USA market goodbye with a move like this.
Their international marketshare is above 15%, your numbers are way off but even moreso their share of international smartphone profits (very high margins) is gigantic and far our of proportion to their market share. I don’t think there’s a smartphone maker getting more profit from a phone than Apple.
Blackberry thought the same with BBM, and it is somewhat true – until it isn't. Ultimately what keeps users locked in is how much they like the phone, not the messaging app they are forced to use. I doubt there are many iPhone users who don't also have one of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Signal etc. installed.
I choose an iPhone because some people in my circle only use iMessage. I also don't have anyone in my circle who uses Signal, except for other people with iPhones. And they prefer iMessage if available. As for Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, I don't run Facebook code on my devices.
That said, even if iMessage went cross-platform, I'm pretty sure I'll stick in the iDevice family.
What possible benefit could apple get from iMessage for Android? It wont help them sell more of their own products so why should they put in efforts on a Droid version.
Leverage over android users. If iMessage became dominant on Android, Apple can make the experience just a little bit better on iOS to encourage people to switch.
I honestly don’t see a reward for developing a non monetized application on another platform. Especially so if it’s going to just be a stripped version (no Apple Pay, no Find My integration) and they would lose users in doing so.
So what are their plans with RCS on 4g / 5g? (RCS is the upgrade to SMS / MMS that has nearly all the features of modern online messengers). With RCS, if you don't care about encryption, you don't have to care about messengers like iMessage anymore. With RCS we also don't have to care about Apple or Google datamining our personal messages as it doesn't go through their servers (though they still can access it through our devices).
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 55.2 ms ] threadI know many people who have lost their messages from deceased loved ones. Now I'm figuring out it's because apple mindfully doesn't allow it.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26715754
Making iMessage accessible on all platforms is a win for the end user, but almost surely results in existing iPhone users moving to Android. Kiss your already tiny, non-USA market goodbye with a move like this.
https://www.counterpointresearch.com/us-market-smartphone-sh...
I choose an iPhone because some people in my circle only use iMessage. I also don't have anyone in my circle who uses Signal, except for other people with iPhones. And they prefer iMessage if available. As for Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, I don't run Facebook code on my devices.
That said, even if iMessage went cross-platform, I'm pretty sure I'll stick in the iDevice family.