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There are no real alternatives to Google Messages. There are lots of SMS apps. None of them support RCS, because Google won't let them. So any alternatives will be a downgrade at lest in that regard. Usually a number of others also.
I've used most of the SMS apps out there, none are nearly as nice a Google Messages. It's a shame, but it's true. I've kinda settled on Textra for now, but I'm always looking for something better.
RCS is just read receipts right? is there anything you're really losing out on?
Internet-routed media transfers, bypassing some (very) shitty filtering done by carriers. Most will compress and downscale any media sent via MMS. A friend didn't have RCS until recently, and I always had to remember to send links and not actual pictures because they would always recieve unreadable garbage if I let the carrier transfer it. But really, ANY other messaging app solves this.. Signal, Telegram, Discord, even Steam Chat will blow the pants off MMS.
RCS is pretty much useless for my country which relies heavily on other messaging apps like WhatsApp/Telegram. I use SMS only for OTPs and stuff so I'm happy without any RCS in my life.
shit, I forgot about the image compression
I'll get complaints from people they can't add/remove members from a group chat, and it's because I'm in the chat, and use Google voice.
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RCS is encrypted in transit & preserves image & video quality that MMS can lose.
E2EE
There are also no others that have a good web ui, Google Messages web ui is pretty great honestly.
That said, they recently rolled out a requirement to log in to to your google account to use that and I think that might be the line I refuse to cross.
has signal gone back to sms or am I still expected to somehow evangelize all my contacts into also using it
If you don't evangelize all your contacts into using it, you wouldn't get any benefit from using it for SMS anyway. That's why they removed SMS support, it confused people about the privacy of SMS messages.
The benefit for me was having an sms client that wasn't Google's. Additional privacy with other users that were already onboard with their own volition was a bonus.
You get that using any other SMS app and Signal.
Literally the only gain is having one app instead of two.
and yet here we are discussing alternative SMS apps, no? One might assume people want an app that can do sms to replace the sms app that is going away
Literally the only gain is having one app instead of two.
It's also easier to convince others to use signal if there's an added bonus: you're already using it
I wasn't even aware that they removed sms support. It's been ages since I used sms.
It was a pretty big bummer. Most people in my circle were using it up until that point. But, you know, the rest of the employed world operates on sms so waddya do
the rest of the employed world operates on sms
Depends on the country, here almost everyone is in whatsapp. I haven't been able to ditch that because of work and hobby groups.
oof. my condolences
I miss the days when signal would do sms. then I didn't need to deal with the rcs bs and could just use signal for everything
Absolutely, all they needed to do was mark it witj a red flag on the profile pic to highlight insecure messaging.
For an SMS replacement, I've been using Fossify Messages for a while now and don't have any complaints with it. It's open source and doesn't care about your personal info. I don't really use SMS much, so idk if it has all the features you used in the Samsung messenger, but it might be worth trying out.
EDIT: If you need RCS, I don't think there are any open source choices for it, due to how its deployed afaik. You're pretty much stuck with Samsung or Google or some other OEM's SMS app.
looks like this automatically imports blocked numbers. very good, thank you 👍
also since somebody reminded me of image compression, I'm also getting full images with this
My phone uses an alternate OS that does not implement RCS at all. I get & send SMS or MMS (multimedia message, i.e. pics, docs etc) to one or several recipients.
So, from my POV, the alternative is just fuck Google and use SMS.
Still, Samsung jumping the gun is worrying for future development.
There is Fossify Messages. A caveat. Fossify is a fork of some apps that were abandoned or had the license changed. After that happened, they were unmaintained for a while. That appears to have changed somewhat, but it has been 2 months since the last update on F-Droid.
This is at least the second time they've made me run to another messaging service for no discernible reason, the bastards.
What I never understood: you have to pay your carrier for SMS services, but RCS is free (just need internet, mobile or wifi) like iMessage is also free? Rght?
Free, sure. There is only one app that does it, with huge dependency on Google and/or carrier (whoever runs the servers), which could just... stop working one day, like it did for me.
Google would never just give up on a product that people love!
I know you're joking, but for those who don't know: https://killedbygoogle.com/ and https://gcemetery.co/
Go for Signal Messenger if you want something easy to use and easy to use for others (there's no point changing your texting app if none of your contacts will use it).
Else, there is XMPP and Matrix.
Might I suggest a VoIP provider? It costs money, yes, but since you are using your real number on VoIP, you can routinely switch carriers to get new customer deals. For example, I pay $15/month for unlimited data and $5/month to JMP.chat. JMP gives me unlimited text, 2 hours of voice, and voice is less than a cent/min after that is used. I was paying $40/month before for unlimited (still capped after 10 GB). JMP doesn't require personal information (though they will know if you port an outside number and your phone number is public no matter what, so...). You can lie about your name and address to Mint (though I recommend putting a hotel address near you to comply with regional taxes for your payment plan. They'll know your approximate location anyway).
But why would you REALLY do this? Decoupling the phone number you actually use from your SIM card/eSIM is powerful. Everyone who wants to know your phone number can, especially if you live in the US. People search sites are crazy. Even barring that, you give it to the government, job applications, credit card companies, banks, random restaurants, tech companies (even if you are privacy conscious now you probably gave it to Google, Apple, and Microsoft at one point). Your SIM shows your approximate location, which can be legally pulled by the government. Stalkers, PIs, and bounty hunters can and do bribe carriers for this info as well. Unless you have a degoogled phone, your texts are likely being scanned by Google or Apple (look into the way they are blurring nude photos in texts unless your age is verified and asking you if you're sure you want to send or open them).
VoIP protects you from this, and also prevents targeted SIM swaps. You can also get multiple numbers (for JMP it is half price) if you need a work phone number, or for dating new people, restaurants, calling anonymously, etc.
Downsides: Some websites won't accept VoIP numbers. One government website even wouldn't allow me to verify with my number that was previously not VoIP, but was the only number I had used, and therefore the only way to verify.
If you talk on the phone a lot it can get pricey. But you should really be using something like Signal for anyone who you frequently talk to. Traditional voice, SMS, RCS, and even iMessage are all terrible for privacy & security, and should essentially be treated as a public social media post that you can't delete.
If your phone is carrier locked, it is nearly pointless: larger carriers require personal info so you don't gain much anonymity, nor can you save money. If your phone is not degoogled, it is also a lot less useful since Google has your (much more accurate) location data. However, if you don't have a Google account tied to your real name (or don't use one at all) it still may be worth it.
xmpp account with a jmp.chat phone number?
