Android Users Can Soon Add Emoji Reactions to iPhone Texts With Annoying Catch

Thursday October 20, 2022 9:11 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Google today announced that Android users will be able to add emoji reactions to SMS texts received from iPhone users in Google's Messages app. This feature and other improvements to the app will begin rolling out in the coming weeks.

Given that the Messages app on iOS lacks support for the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol, emoji reactions from Android users will appear as annoying follow-up SMS text messages on the iPhone, according to CNET. For example, the message will say something along the lines of "Joe reacted with Heart to 'let's go to the movies tonight.'"

Google's head of its Messages app Jan Jedrzejowicz told CNET that it will be up to Apple to decide whether or not to parse those texts into the appropriate Tapback reaction on the iPhone, similar to how Tapbacks now appear properly on Android.

The feature seems to be at least partly an attempt at Google encouraging Apple to support RCS on the iPhone, as this would eliminate the annoying follow-up SMS messages. Google launched a campaign earlier this year pushing for Apple to adopt RCS, but Apple CEO Tim Cook suggested the feature has not been highly requested by iPhone users.

Tags: Android, Google

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Top Rated Comments

fwmireault

46 months ago

I know it’s a very unpopular opinion here, but all of the efforts in the past year to improve text communications between iPhones and android have been made by Google, and it is a shame that Apple is doing nothing on their end. Don’t know if RCS is the necessary answer, but it is as terrible for android and iPhone users to have all this mismatch in features and functionalities

Downvote that all you want, this is what I really think, and I will certainly not defend Apple on that

Score: 73 Votes (Like | Disagree)

sw1tcher

46 months ago

I have major trust issues with Android phones. Hopefully, Google will not collect any data from iPhone users.

If Apple is okay with making Google the default search engine on their devices and Apple cares so much about our privacy, then that means Google is safe, right?

You need to trust Apple's deci$ion$. Apple knows what's be$t for [s]us[/s] them.

Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)

MallardDuck

46 months ago

Why would Apple invest any time and money supporting a proprietary google fork of RCS, especially when google's commitment to a technology lasts about as long as a civil conversation on social media?

Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Joe Rossignol

46 months ago

iMessage already does the exact same thing to an Android user.
When ever an iMessage user likes a message from an android user, it does the exact same thing. Sends a separate text message that the reader like your text.

I don't really see a problem here. Android users get the same response in SMS when I like their message. Maybe rather than fighting, we could just get the two companies to work together to not hurt consumers?

That's not true anymore actually. Google fixed it earlier this year: