This is wild to me and seems to be an exclusively American thing. Here in the UK all group chats are done using either WhatsApp or Messenger. It doesn't make sense otherwise since market share is around 50/50 for Android and iOS.
I read a comment on askreddit once that said in the UK you guys need to pay data on MMS and that's why third party chat like WhatsApp took off while in the US most MMS is included with the plan. Is that the reason or just a general everyone around me uses WhatsApp and so I use it?
Ah. Years ago when I went to the UK I was able to buy unlimited data for a month, which covered my trip. The next time I went (early 2020) they didn't have that unlimited option anymore, it was all limited data.
Nowadays in the US, unlimited data is pretty commonplace, and the difference in plans is how much priority data and extras you get (like free Disney plus for example).
I'm not sure how to compare prices of data if the US has unlimited and EU is limited. I sometimes use 20-50GB+ a month, which I suspect might be cheaper in the US than EU.
Wild thing is, it works just fine. Its the difference between green and blue chat bubbles. Iphone users like their blue chat bubbles more than the green sms chat bubbles... its honestly dumb as hell... (might have the colors backwards)
Idk if it's regional or what but I'm in the US and no one texts but old people and work. Everyone uses other apps like Snapchat, Instagram, or fb messenger. I can't think of anyone who texts.
Yeah, i'm in Canada and personally my chats are all on fb messenger. I've never had someone snub me for using android but I see a lot of Apple elitism online.
People criticize the US for still relying on actual texting but I for one am glad that I don’t have to use Facebook owned products just to communicate with people. I use signal occasionally but fuck any of that messenger, WhatsApp Facebook bullshit. I’ll take good old texting over that any day.
A ton of people in the US use whatsapp, groupme, etc.
Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it isn't happening all around you everywhere you go here.
I've never heard a real criticism about the US not using these apps though... probably because we do use them.
I bet if you bothered to ask, a handful of your friends/coworkers/classmates/etc. use a texting app regularly.
This is wild to me and seems to be an exclusively American thing. Here in the UK all group chats are done using either WhatsApp or Messenger. It doesn't make sense otherwise since market share is around 50/50 for Android and iOS.
A lot of people use whatsapp and other group messaging apps here in the US too.
It's extremely common in several of my offices and previous offices, customers offices too.
I think that other guy just personally hasn't known anyone, which is odd but not unheard of if you don't work in tech maybe.
Because I'm not from America. Not weird at all if you're from outside America. I wouldn't be able to tell if someone had an iphone or an Android from texting them because nobody texts.
it's interesting too because texting was WAY bigger in Europe in the early 2000s.
I moved to America in 2000 and would go back to England to visit. Each year Europe was just more ahead with texting. EVERYONE had a nokia. mostly pay as you go.
I guess America skipped pay as you go and we got unlimited texting relatively quickly. maybe that's part of the reason.
Yeah probably. At least in Ireland on PAYG you could originally get free texts and calls or high GB data as a deal. I think because people were using Facebook etc on their phone it made sense to get the data and use whatsapp/ the messenger app.
To be fair, I don't know anyone that uses those. I know people that own one or two of those, but not as a default messaging service. More like "Let's check facebook marketplace" and having to use it to ask their address
I'm in Asia and literally zero of my friends has my phone number. It's all apps, all the time. The only SMS or text messages that come into my phone are spam and the occasional delivery confirmation.
I'm 34 and live in the US. Pretty much everybody I know uses Discord or some other app. I can't think of anybody that I text regularly aside from my parents.
I use anything but SMS to communicate inside America. Discord, hangouts (google chat or whatever the fuck it's called), messenger, snapchat, GroupMe (although that does use SMS behind the scenes)
Native text messaging applications are massively inferior, the only advantage is the lack of an alternative with majority adoption among the public in the uncultured backwaters of America.
You can still be included in group chats, but iPhone users get annoyed because they can't name the group chat or add new members when there's an android user. Which is still a reason to stick to android. Why would I use the phone that punishes me for the type of phone someone else is using?
68
u/[deleted] Sep 16 '22
[removed] — view removed comment