Nothing becomes “blue” in chats of people who are “green”, ET Telecom

NEW DELHI: In a bid to end discrimination in texting, young consumer technology brand Nothing has launched its own messaging service, Nothing Chats, featuring the ubiquitous blue bubble like Apple’s iMessage.

“We are by no means the first to offer a solution to one of the biggest complaints between Android and iOS users,” the company writes on its website. This service is provided by Sunbird, a third-party chat bubble-independent messaging app for Android that allows users to message other phone users directly from his Nothing Phone using blue bubbles. .

At this time, the app is only available to Nothing Phone (2) users in the US, Canada, UK, and EU.

The service works by connecting a user’s iCloud account to an app running through a virtual Mac Mini. But experts feel this move could weaken data security.

Why are blue bubbles so important?

The question about the color of chat bubbles is that Android messages are delivered in a “green bubble” (indicating it is an Android smartphone), whereas iMessage content is delivered, so Android users, especially young people, are more likely to be affected by iOS users. stems from the fact that they routinely feel isolated within a group of people. Delivered in a “blue bubble”.

Android users often rely on third-party apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal, while iOS users tend to rely on Apple’s iMessage. It’s similar to texting, but with enhanced multimedia support.

It’s not like Android users don’t have similar services. In 2019, Google’s Messaging app adopted the RCS (Rich Communication System) standard to offer almost everything you can do with iMessage.

But even though the feature gap has been closed, Apple has so far not allowed RCS support for iMessage.

“Let’s end the stigma of the green bubble,” Nothing co-founder Karl Pei said on X, calling on Apple CEO Tim Cook to adopt RCS for security and interoperability.

“We believe in windows, not walls. If messaging services are dividing phone users, we want to break down that barrier,” the website says. .

The move sparked a social media storm of sorts, with users calling for an end to discriminatory differences.

“I’m tired of messaging apps that are locked to a specific device. Mr. Cook, tear down this wall!” wrote Android expert Mishal Rahman. “Honestly, it will be interesting to see solutions like Nothing Chat gain more traction, because I wonder how Apple will react.”

However, not everyone is convinced. Artecnica journalist Ron Amadeo called the move a publicity stunt. “Nothing Chat is backed by a super shady company that has already missed multiple deadlines to release iMessage for Android and refuses to answer difficult (and obvious) questions about Apple account security. A bad publicity stunt,” he wrote to X.