SMS vs iMessage
Today, digital communication is the essential part of humans’ lives and in this evolving and innovative world, it’s becoming harder and harder to be in touch with each other without text messages. It is safe to say that the new generation in some ways is device addicted. In other words — no smartphone, no life.
However, the large opportunities for text messaging and diversity of devices have a challenging side — which one to choose? And the common debates on iOS vs Android slightly transferred to the discussion SMS vs iMessage. If this question is actual for you and you need to know more about these messaging types to choose the one from SMS vs iMessage, keep reading as we have collected some key differences between iMessage and text.
iMessage vs. Text: Key Differences
The mobile revolution in recent decades set its own perspectives in different spheres. The cloud communications industry cannot stay out of this process. Moreover, the current spread of internet connection and cellular/mobile data opportunities, different tablets, and smartphones impact on the industry and change not only the users’ requirements but also cell phone manufacturers’ and operators’ priorities.
Therefore, to find out which wins the market in the iMessage vs text message battle, it will be smarter to go through the main differences between them.
Although both iMessage and text are ways to send text or visual to the contacts, they are far from being the same. Here are the key differences between a text and an iMessage.
Different devices
iMessages the native messaging technology of all Apple devices — Apple’s instant messaging service for iPhone, iPad, and iMac devices. It lets users send messages, photos, stickers, and much more between any Apple gadgets over the Internet.
iMessages are not simple SMS or MMS messages, but specific ones that perform better between Apple devices. Only then, their functionality is completely reconcilable. When an iPhone user sends an iMessage to a non-Apple user, it will be sent instead in an SMS format that the other device can read.
iMessages can be sent not only to iPhones but to any Apple device, as they are an instant message sent over the Internet. However, when it comes to group chat communication and it contains another, non- Apple device, all the messages will be sent in simple SMS/MMS format in order to be compatible with that device.
Text messages principle is not specific to any device brand or provider. Therefore, most recent phones and tablets are created to be able to send both SMS and MMS messages. However, without the relevant contract with a phone company, these messages cannot be functional.
Different colours
iPhone — users have probably noticed that some of the text message backgrounds are blue, while others are green. This difference actually is not without reason: the blue bubbles are iMessages and green ones are simple SMS messages. However, this is just a visual diversity: colour-coding makes it easy to identify both iMessage and SMS.
Usage of the Internet
Another key difference between iMessage and text messages is the way they send data. Text messages use the cell connection, bouncing from one cell tower to another, while iMessages transfer data through the Internet connection. So, you need Wi-Fi or cellular data to send an iMessage, but you can use any cell reception to send a text message.
iMessages are free over Wi-Fi but use your data allowance otherwise. Text messages depend on your cell contract allowance — limited or unlimited.
iMessage vs. Text Message
To have a final idea which is the leader in iMessage vs Text Message battle, we should clearly understand the advantages and disadvantages of each. Keep reading as in this part of our blog post we are going to tell you more about iMessage vs Text Message.
What are the advantages of iMessage against text messaging?
It is worth mentioning that due to the flexibility to send messages over the Internet, iMessage offers some extra features we can’t get with texts. We’ve laid them below.
End-to-end encryption
It is common knowledge that privacy is very significant for Apple, that’s why everything sent as an iMessage is encrypted from end-to-end. This means that no-one can read it except the person it is addressed to, not even Apple. So even if someone tries to have access to your iMessages by force it is impossible without your passcode.
Read notifications and live typing
iMessages let you see when people receive or read your messages. After the recipient gets your iMessage you can see “Delivered” in small print below your message and once the message is open, the small print turns into “Read”.
Moreover, three flashing dots (…) appear while someone is typing a text to you and you know to wait for it or close the messaging app.
Effects and stickers
Each new version of iOS brings more and more updated features to iMessage. You can send your messages with an effect to highlight what you want to say. Or respond quickly by tagging bubbles with a sticker.
Different extra features making messaging fun and enjoyable are only available for iMessages: memoji videos, fullscreen effects to your messages and much more.
Send more over iMessage
As iMessage works over the Internet, it can send a broader range of cool data. So, in this regard, it is the absolute winner of iMessage vs.Text Message battle as here you aren’t limited to 160 characters and blurry pictures.
Apple’s instant messaging service lets you send GIFs, links photos, videos, locations, documents, voice recordings, Memoji animations and much more. When you have access to Wi-Fi, it’s fully free to send or receive this content in the highest quality.
Group Conversation opportunities
iMessage lets you hold a group conversation with different people at the same time. Meanwhile, this isn’t possible with text messages. The Messages app even lets you tag certain group members using the @ symbol, reply to certain messages and use custom photos for the group conversation icon.
Android messages vs iMessage
It is obvious that Google works hard to bring Android messages to the same level as iMessages are. Here we are going to discuss which one leads the battle iMessage vs Android message. Even if it seems like iMessage is ahead with some features like support for location and file sharing Android Messages is catching up quickly. Let’s see how both fare against each other.
Level of encryption
For Apple, security is as important as for Google. Hence, iMessage comes with end-to-end encryption enabled by default on all iOS devices. That is why no one can read your messages unless they have physical access to your device.
On the other hand, Android Messages are surprisingly not end-to-end encrypted and this fact makes it vulnerable. Moreover, there is a huge amount of apps on the Play Store seeking access to messages, your phone is one bad app permission away from being compromised.
Video call ability
Both Apple and Google have video calling apps called FaceTime and Duo accordingly. While Duo is set to be a FaceTime rival, it is not integrated into Messages yet.
iMessage allows you to make video calls using FaceTime from the message window itself. That is easy-to-use and skips some steps you have to go through just to make a video call.
Third-party app integration
This is where iMessage is an absolute leader leaving android Messages behind. When we open a chat window, we can notice a lot of icons at the bottom of the screen.
Since we start to scroll through the icons horizontally, we can see a More option where it is possible to configure app shortcuts: attach files from Dropbox, share favourite music from Apple Music or photos directly from Google Photos, and much more. It changes the previous knowledge about messaging and turns into something more than just a tool to exchange text or photos.
Of course, we can find other differences and a couple of advantages and disadvantages as well to support one or another party in the iMessage vs text battle. But know when you know a lot about them, it’s up to you which is the winner.
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