It’s time for Apple to fix texting, says Google

SAN FRANCISCO: Google has launched a new campaign to put pressure on Apple to adopt RCS (rich communication services) and improve texting between Android and iOS users.

RCS is a next generation SMS protocol that upgrades text messaging across Android and iMessages.

"It's time for Apple to fix texting. It's not about the color of the bubbles. It's the blurry videos, broken group chats, missing read receipts and typing indicators, no texting over Wi-Fi and more," said the Google campaign.

"These problems exist because Apple refuses to adopt modern texting standards when people with iPhones and Android phones text each other," it added.

The tech giant is asking Apple to fix these issues by supporting RCS.

"Messaging should bring people together not pull them apart," Google said.

"The Android team's goal is to make texting a more secure, modern and enjoyable experience for everyone, regardless of the phone they're using. Because it shouldn't matter what phone they have things should just work," the company added.

According to Google, Apple turns texts between iPhones and Android phones into SMS and MMS which are out-of-date technologies.

"But Apple can adopt RCS the modern industry standard for these threads instead. Solving the problem without changing your iPhone to iPhone conversations and making messaging better for everyone," said Google.

Apple was yet to react to the new Google RCS campaign.