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Lizzie
Hello everyone!
In late summer, I went on vacation to the USA and visited a few theme parks. To prepare for my vacation, I read up on the rules of etiquette in the USA so that I wouldn't stand out as a tourist and wouldn't put my foot in my mouth.
As a European, I was totally surprised by one topic because I had never heard of it before: "Green Bubble vs. Blue Bubble"
While SMS plays at most a role in two-factor authentication in my environment, it is still widely used worldwide.
A little bit of history from the last 30 years
The first concept for SMS (Short Message Service) was drafted in 1985. This concept already had a limit of 160 characters per message. It was assumed that people would not usually use more characters in a fax or postcard, which meant that the 160 characters were completely sufficient for the service. After the first SMS with “Merry Christmas” from Neil Papworth to Vodafone manager Richard Jarvis on December 3, 1992, SMS was commercially launched in Germany at CeBIT 1994.
SMS was incredibly popular back then and peaked in Germany in 2012 with 59 billion short messages. In 2023, “only” 5.3 billion text messages were sent. But texting was not that cheap. The price per message was usually 19 cents. Initially a little higher, but later the price dropped to as low as 6 cents with low-cost providers.
From 2002, it was also possible to send media such as pictures and videos via MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service). Unfortunately, the service was rather expensive at around 39 cents per message and also limited to just 300KB. Videos via MMS were pretty much a pixel mush. Vodafone buried the MMS service in Germany in January 2023.
SMS flat rates were not worthwhile and uncommon back then because they were too expensive. As smartphones became more and more popular on the market, people switched from SMS to messaging apps with more features.
WhatsApp has become the standard for messaging. The advantages did not have to be explained to any age group for long: With an existing internet connection, you can write an unlimited number of messages. Photos and videos can also be shared easily. You also see a read receipt and an online status. There is a very large selection of messaging apps. WhatsApp, Signal, Threema, Viber, Telegram and many more. The only problem is convincing other people to use a better or more secure messenger. If something simply works and people are satisfied, it is very difficult to argue against “never touch a running system”.
Green vs. Blue Bubbles
Apple has introduced iMessage in iOS5. iMessage replaces SMS and MMS with a new messaging service, provided that both users are using an iOS device. Messages are encrypted end-to-end and the standard messaging app also enables more features. Sharing photos and videos, read receipts, stickers, other attachments, group chats and much more. iMessage messages are displayed with blue bubbles and SMS/MMS messages are displayed with green bubbles.
In the USA, SMS flat rates seem to be offered in most plans. In 2011, there was a peak of 2.3 trillion SMS/MMS. Unlike in Germany, SMS remained at a similar level and 2 trillion SMS/MMS were still sent in the USA in 2021. In addition to flat rates, user behavior could play a role. Many people seem to use the standard apps on devices.
The iPhone is also very popular in the USA and has an extremely high market share of around 59%. This share is only around 28.3% worldwide.
The Green vs. Blue Bubble topic has taken on a social dynamic all of its own. When exchanging phone numbers while dating, some dates are ghosted as soon as a green bubble appears. Android users are excluded or even bullied at school, for example, because the green bubbles would break the group chats and functions would be lost.
In my opinion, we should be connecting people in the communication industry, not building walls or maintaining them. Unfortunately, in 2022 it didn't look like Apple wanted to improve communication between iOS and Android. [Link]
If only someone would push modern standards so that everyone could communicate better and more securely.
https://www.android.com/get-the-message/RCS (Rich Communication Services) has been under development since 2007. RCS is a IP-based protocol standard for short messages that will ideally replace SMS and MMS in the future. The standard is defined by the GSMA (GSM Association). Google acquired Jibe Mobile in 2015 and has been working with GSMA on the “Universal Profile” standard for RCS ever since.
Attempts were already being made to establish RCS as a standard around 2013. Some carriers had agreed on an RCS standard and launched RCS-e / “joyn”. However, the RCS solution with the joyn app failed to establish itself and was abandoned.
With Google Messages, there is a widespread standard messaging app on Android devices that supports RCS. If the other person does not use the preferred messaging app like WhatsApp, there is ideally no fallback to SMS. Instead, you have a solution with RCS with typing indicator, read receipts, high resolution picture/video sharing, voice messages and reactions. And if all participants use Google Messages, all data is encrypted end-to-end.
RCS also offers business messaging (B2C). Companies can verify their identity and send customers better and more complex messages than with SMS. For example, tickets for trains, planes or cinemas can be sent directly as a QR code as an RCS message. Or make contact with customers interactive via chatbot. Google, for example, prefers to use an RCS chat for Google verification codes.
What does it look like?
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| If the other person does not have RCS, SMS/MMS is used | As soon as RCS is available or no longer possible, this will be displayed + Typing Indicator and Emoji Reaction |
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| You can check whether the messages are encrypted in the message details | A wide range of files is supported. You can also add an emoji theme to voice messages in Messages. On some devices, automatic audio transcription is also possible so that you can read the voice messages. |
Setting up RCS
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| The RCS settings can be checked in the Google Messages settings | The carrier plays a role in RCS registration. In this case, RCS was blocked by the carrier for this subscriber. As a result, it was not possible to set it up. However, this should not occur with private SIM cards. |
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| In this case, RCS is active |
Finally!
This year, Apple finally introduced the RCS Universal Profile 2.4 in its Messages app with iOS 18.
I think it's great that Google has pushed the topic of RCS forward. I also think it's honorable that Apple has implemented RCS. I hope that they will also continuously implement newer standards of the Universal Profile. Samsung can also be cheered, as they have also implemented RCS in their products for many years.
It's about time we moved on from a telecommunication standard from over 30 years ago, where people were thinking of faxes and postcards for the length per message.
It is truly no easy task to create a bridge between the iconic SMS and modern messaging services with RCS. However, the current progress makes me feel positive.
RCS still seems to be at the beginning, but 2024 was a very positive year for the spread of RCS. 🎉
In over 30 years of SMS, there has been a lot to experience. Do you have any stories about SMS?
- Back then, I had a deal with the carrier with my PrePaid plan. For every ~30 (I'm not sure of the exact amount) SMS I received, I received credit worth one SMS
- On New Year's Eve, massive amounts of New Year's wishes were sent by SMS in Germany. It was like an annual DDoS attack on the carriers. The messages often arrived at the recipients several hours later.
