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Comment by Workaccount2 | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand how people are so mixed on this. The prospect of leaving iOS to go to Android is simply a no-go for me because I would lose access to a bunch of family and friend group chats (besides other lock-in)

It's ridiculous that apple can leverage my social connections as a tool to keep me on iOS.

What am I supposed to do?

"Dear friends and family, I need you all to download this app called Signal so we can restart all our group chats in a new app because I am getting an android phone."

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I don’t understand the complaint here. I am in several group chats that have a mix of iPhone, Android, and other messaging clients. I have not lost access to anything.

Currently, sending pictures from an iPhone only group to a group that includes an android reduces picture quality significantly.

Sending video is atrociously bad potato quality. How to send to android? Easiest is email and then the many other options. According to Steve Jobs “get your mom an iPhone”.

I swear at one time I could not edit a group chat if an android was in the group chat but that must have recently changed.

Maybe they think they lose the group chat transferring to android or the chat history. Windows phone link is bad with an iPhone also. Can’t even text an android phone. For me, Android->Iphone->Macos->Windows and now I’m considering looping back to Android.

I don’t understand either. I have an iPhone. My wife has a Samsung. According to certain pockets of the internet it’s a miracle we made it past our first date and now it’s only a matter of time before we’re divorced.

Our group chat with her family is evenly split between iOS and Android. No one’s ever said one word about it.

We absolutely have run into the issue where I can’t send my wife multiple photos at the same time over text (a single photo works fine)…so I just use one of several other methods to send photos in bulk.

To me, this topic is the ultimate “touch grass” example.

I asked my friends and family to download Signal.

They were resistant. It took a long time. But there are ample new opportunities appearing on a daily basis to show them why a cross platform privacy-focused messenger is a better idea than being trapped in a walled garden.

But eventually they understood. And because they care about me, they use Signal to communicate with me. For some of them I'm their only Signal contact. With others, they now have other friends from other circles who have similar concerns.

The more other people they hear mention Signal, the more likely they are to use it. Be the change you want to see.

This sounds like a lot of work. Which kinda confirms the OP's point - it's possible to switch, but most people don't want to die on this hill and choose an easier path (and I can't blame them).

Caring about things takes work. You don't have to die on this hill, you can still come down to exchange baby pictures with the family at the casino every now and again. But while you're there, you might mention there are other cool places to hang out that are just around the corner and aren't predatory.

People talk about downloading an app as if it's this great endeavor like lifting a huge boulder. The app will live on their phone and send them notifications. It's not that big of a deal. They'll forget to use it most of the time at first. It's not that big of a deal.

In many countries, iMessage isn't that popular and other messengers thrive. Why do you think ios forced all these other messenger apps to integrate with the OS call records - so that it can still collect the metadata on who you talk to through VoIP (So even if you use other messengers on ios to protect your data from Apple, you can't).

What mechanism wound deny you access to those group chats? I honestly can’t imagine why that should happen.

Kind of, yes. The other 96% of the world population has pretty much managed just that. No where else depends on iMessage and the idea of depending on such a single-platform app to keep in touch with people is baffling.

The rest of the world has the analog problem of some people boycotting fb messenger or WhatsApp and trying to get their social circle to move tob signal or telegram

Fortunately it's easy to migrate off Facebook and just keep using messenger to talk to people. Not so easy with Apple.

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