In a previous entry from July, I mulled over whether or not to switch to an iPhone as my daily driver. Smartphones are ’round the clock’ personal assistants in the modern era–and the point of a smartphone is for it to work for you and not the other way around. RCS being a necessity for me meant I could not really switch to an iPhone. Well, until now, supposedly.
After two long years, Apple got the message!
Having spent time with the iOS 18 beta over the summer, I really enjoy my phone now! I love my iPhone 13 Pro Max for a number of reasons. But I’ve also come to realize that RCS may not come to my carrier’s AT&T-based network on iOS until this time next year. This comes down to the way Apple implemented their RCS stuff, really.
At the very least, US Mobile do have RCS working on their Verizon-based network. So we have that. Unfortunately, I am stuck with the AT&T network option due to coverage in our area and the places I travel to with frequency…
Nothing against US Mobile, of course! The ball is squarely in AT&T and Apple’s courts on this one. On AT&T’s part, their generic bundle is terrible and needs to get updated. On Apple’s part, they need to let US Mobile have their own carrier bundle. It’s a whole thing.
I didn’t want to bring it up, but as of me writing this, MMS group messaging is STILL completely busted on Dark Star. I consider this to be a mandatory feature–and since RCS isn’t here to save that, it’s not ideal! I blame AT&T–not US Mobile–for the subpar experience. It’s AT&T’s generic bundle: they need to fix it.
Anyway, silver lining: This is something US Mobile is working on for Dark Star (their AT&T-based network) first before the other two networks, at least. Frankly, I believe them when they say they’re trying to get this out the door soon! But… I’ve always been someone who doesn’t like sticking with something that isn’t going to work for me now, on the promise of something else happening in the future. And I don’t know if I can stick it out. Maybe I’m being cynical, but I don’t trust Apple to let them have a bundle.
Look, I’ve been pulling back from most “normal” social media use. I don’t post on Twitter, or anything really, as much as I used to. These days I prefer making good old fashioned phone calls, sending texts, or using Snapchat to communicate with the friends I have. I won’t get into the details of my own mental health, but I do mention this because it is informing my decision.
Snapchat is… a mess on Android, and it has been for many years now. While it is getting better, the iOS app is more stable and has a far more usable app overall. That’s a win for iOS, and a major concern if I were to decide to swap my eSIM over to my Pixel right now.
So, the wins for iOS mostly stop there. I don’t really care about iMessage anymore–it’s cool, but RCS offers high quality media and that’s all I really cared for. Stickers are a nice bonus, but I don’t consider those important. Apple Pay isn’t something I use, none of my friends use it either. We all use Venmo. So, who cares?
Realistically, nobody actually cares. Use whatever phone you want, when you want to use it…just make sure you or the people you know are on iOS 18 and turn RCS on if they can, PLEASE! Let’s at least fix the group chats and horrid videos… as for me, well, I’ll decide eventually.
Maybe…