Google and Apple are fighting one of the biggest consumer wars that we’ve seen: iOS vs Android. While this is true, they’re also fighting a much smaller war; one that deals with text messages. According to 9to5Google, Google Messages can see iMessage reactions, but the translation isn’t 100% accurate.
Google Messages can read iMessage reactions
There’s been an ongoing dispute between Google and Apple about their respective messaging platforms. Now, it seems that steps are being made so that both messaging platforms play nicely together. iOS users enjoy certain perks of being on a proprietary and exclusive messaging platform (like those fancy blue bubbles). One is being able to read iMessage reactions.
Much like in Facebook Messenger, iMessage users can react to messages with an emoji of their choosing. This has been a thing exclusive to other iMessage users, but Google has been testing this with Google Messages. During the testing stage, when an iMessage user would send a reaction, the Android user would get the name of the emoji followed by the word “Testing.”
Now, the feature has made a lot of progress, and now, Android users are able to actually see the reaction on their side. Just like on iMessage, the reaction will show up on the bottom right of the message bubble.
The emojis used are different, however
While this shows progress, there’s still some ways to go. For starters, for the time being, there are six reactions that Android users can use as opposed to the seven present on iOS. We’re not sure if this will change in the near future.
Another little hiccup deals with the actual emojis used. The emojis used on Android aren’t exactly the same as on iMessage. The heart on iOS would be converted to the face with heart eyes. While they’re similar in nature, they can have very different connotations based on the situation. The face emoji can have a romantic implication while the heart can just mean a general statement of compassion.
This is a step in the right direction, however. The tech world has been wanting some sort of unity among the different messaging services. We all imagine a world where we can send messages on any platform using just one app. A person could send an SMS to their friend and send a Facebook message to another friend using the same service. It’s a dream, but Google Messages being able to read iMessage reactions is a good step.
2022-02-03 15:06:23