Google pushes Apple to adopt a new kind of text messaging, criticizes ‘green bubbles’

• Google, the developer of the Android operating system, has increased its pressure on Apple to adopt RCS, a next-generation standard for text messaging.
• “We’re hoping that Android users stop being blamed for ruining chats,” Google global vice president Adrienne Lofton said.

Google, the developer of the Android, is increasing the pressure on Apple to adopt RCS, a next-generation standard for text messaging.

It argues that Apple’s support of RCS would help prevent some of the problems that arise when iPhone users text with Android owners. Currently, images and video don’t show as clearly as they could, for example, and texts can’t be sent over Wi-Fi networks.

Google executives have suggested that Apple won’t support RCS because its own system, iMessage, helps the Cupertino company retain iPhone users by locking them into the Apple ecosystem.

In a website and publicity campaign on Tuesday, Google blamed Apple for creating a substandard experience when iPhones text Android phones or vice versa.

“We’re hoping that Android users stop being blamed for ruining chats,” Google global vice president for integrated marketing for platforms, Adrienne Lofton, said. “This is Apple that is responsible, and it’s time to own the responsibility.”

The campaign is a notable escalation in an ongoing compatibility spat between the two companies that dominate software for smartphones. Nearly all smartphones in the world either run Android or Apple’s iOS, and Apple’s iPhone has over 55% of the U.S. market, according to StatCounter.

Google wants Apple to support the RCS “standard,” or specifications that allow many different companies such as carriers or phone makers to develop apps that can send and receive RCS messages. Many Android phones already have built-in messaging apps that support RCS.