Tag: iMessage

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Mobile Syrup

Here’s how to easily schedule Text Messages on Your iPhone

Last year, Apple unveiled its new iOS 16 operating system for iPhone that brought the ability to schedule emails directly in the Mail app, which is useful for moments when you’re done writing an email but want to send it out at a specific time. Similarly, users have been requesting the ability to schedule texts on iMessage, but Apple hasn’t added the feature — at least not yet.

However, there’s a workaround, and you can schedule texts natively from an iPhone without having to download any third-party application. However, it does have its limitations. The workaround requires Shortcuts, which was introduced back in iOS 12 and comes pre-installed in all iPhones now.

With the Shortcuts app, iPhone users are able to… well, set shortcuts, record voice memos, Shazam songs, manage smart home devices and more, without having to go to their dedicated apps. Similarly, you can set “Automations” from the Shortcuts app, which can run actions based on events, such as time of day, arrival at a location, or the opening of a specific app. A standard shortcut can only be executed from the Shortcuts app or the Shortcuts widget. Automations, on the other hand, are triggered by events, locations, communications, or settings.

Here’s how you can set up an Automation to schedule texts on iMessage:

  • Open the Shortcuts app and tap on ‘Automation’ in the bottom-aligned tab.
  • Tap on ‘Create Personal Automation’ and tap on the first option that reads “Time of Day.”
  • Select the time you want to schedule the text from the slider, and tap on either Daily, Weekly or Monthly.

Once the timing and frequency are set, you will define the automation action that the iPhone has to take. You should see a screen that looks like the first screenshot (extreme left) below.

  • Tap on “Send Message” under ‘Next Action Suggestions.” If you don’t see the suggestion, tap on ‘Add Action’ and type in “Message.”
  • Select the content of your message within the first set of quotation marks, followed by who you want to send it to in ‘Recipients,’ and tap on Next.
  • You should be on a screen that looks like the third screenshot below. Enable the toggle to ‘Ask Before Running’ if you’d like your iPhone to ask your permission before sending out the message at the specified time. I have this toggled off, considering I don’t want to receive an extra prompt.
  • You can enable ‘Notify When Run.’ This will push a notification to you once the message is sent.

Now, your scheduled message is ready, and it will go out at the specified time. It’s worth noting that the same message will go out to the same person at the same time, depending on the frequency you selected. If your aim was just to schedule a one-off message, then you can delete the automation so it doesn’t send the same message to the recipient daily/weekly/monthly.

To delete an automation, head to ‘Shortcuts’ and tap on ‘Automation’ in the bottom aligned tab. Swipe left on the Message automation and tap ‘Delete.’

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Mobile Syrup

Google continues pushing RCS at Apple with new Vegas billboard

We’re barely a week into 2023 and Google is already back to antagonizing Apple over the latter’s decision not to adopt the former’s RCS chat standard.

Google has been pushing a ‘#GetTheMessage‘ campaign against Apple for months urging people to use the hashtag to tell Apple to adopt RCS. Rich Communication Services is a communication protocol that aims to modernize texting by replacing the dated SMS and MMS standards. RCS includes several features that are common in other messaging platforms, such as high-resolution photo and video sharing, better group chat support, encryption, and more.

Google’s latest move is taking over a large video billboard at Harmon Corner in Las Vegas (where CES 2023 is currently going down) with a message for Apple:

“Hey Apple. It’s Android. The ball may have dropped on 2022, but you don’t have to drop the ball on fixing your pixelated photos and videos. Here’s some code to get the ball rolling…”

The billboard then scrolls through several lines of code before displaying “Help Apple #GetTheMessage” and showing the Android logo.

@uptin

First time I’ve even seen an ad for android and it’s going all out

♬ Funny Song – Cavendish Music

Despite the cheeky message, it’s unlikely this billboard will do much to sway Apple. The core issue is that Apple devices like the iPhone fall back to SMS and MMS when Apple’s iMessage chat platform isn’t available. Since iMessage isn’t available for Android (at least, not without hacky workarounds), messages between iPhones and Android devices happen over the older protocols. That means messaging is less secure and content sent via messages, like pictures, ends up looking blurry or pixelated.

Apple has avoided adopting RCS, however, since it would compete better with iMessage and reduce the feature’s lock-in. Back in 2021, emails revealed during the Epic Games v. Apple trial showed how Apple executives viewed iMessage as a tool to keep people on its platforms. And Apple still views iMessage this way, with CEO Tim Cook telling a journalist to buy an iPhone for his mom to fix messaging issues the journalist referenced in a question about RCS.

Beyond blurry photos, the iMessage system and iPhone’s blue and green text bubbles have contributed to a culture of exclusivity among kids with iPhones who avoid adding Android users to group chats.

The simple solution to all this is using third-party messaging apps like Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, or others. Of course, it can be really difficult to get people to switch — most prefer to use the default messaging option (and I’m speaking from experience).

It’s worth noting this isn’t the first time Google and Apple have taken shots at each other using billboards in Vegas. Back in 2019, Apple advertised the privacy of iPhones on billboards during CES — similar billboards later emerged in Toronto.

You can find all of our coverage from CES 2023 here.

Source: @Uptin Via: MacRumors

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Mobile Syrup

Apple’s iMessage, FaceTime currently down for some users

Some Apple device users have been experiencing some issues with iMessage and FaceTime.

Since 12pm ET, hundreds of people have gone to Downdetector to report outages. On its status page, the tech giant confirmed the service disruptions, although at the time of writing it says it’s resolved the issues. It’s

Earlier today, #imessagedown was trending on Twitter with over 30,000 tweets.

It’s worth noting that WhatsApp also experienced service issues today, although parent company Meta has resolved those.

More to come…

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Mobile Syrup

Apple sparks confusion with iOS 16 message replies change

A confusingly-worded section of Apple’s iOS 16 feature list sparked claims that the company took credit for a feature Google added to its Messages app earlier this year. However, it seems Apple isn’t taking credit — it just added a similar capability to iOS 16.

David Imel, a writer and researcher for MKBHD, spotted Apple’s new claim on the iOS 16 feature page and shared the find on Twitter. Under the ‘Messages’ section is the heading “SMS Tapbacks on Android,” which says:

“React to SMS messages with a Tapback, and a corresponding emoji reaction will appear on recipients’ Android devices.”

Tapback is the name Apple gave to iMessage reactions — those tiny emojis that you can add to messages you receive. Apple added these to its Messages app years ago, but while they were fun for iMessage (blue bubble) users, they were a little odd with the old SMS and MSS (green bubbles) standards. Replying to SMS messages with a Tapback would send an SMS text to the other person in the conversation with something like “Loved ‘Text’” or “Laughed at ‘Text.’”

At least, that’s how it was until January 2022. Google added a feature to its Messages app for Android that transforms incoming Tapbacks into emoji reactions. In other words, instead of “Loved ‘Text,’” users would just see a 😍 emoji appear on the message bubble with ‘Text.’

It’s that feature addition that Apple appears to reference on the iOS 16 feature page. And while the language is definitely confusing, Droid-Life pointed out that Apple is talking about a different feature entirely. Apparently, iOS 16 changed the Tapback function to send an emoji instead of text (i.e. instead of “Loved ‘Text,’” you’d get “😍 to ‘Text’”). The publication also shared an image illustrating the difference between Apple’s improved Tapback feature in iOS 16 and Google’s Messages feature:

iOS 16 Tapback change | Credit: Droid-Life

The whole thing is undeniably confusing, arguably because both Apple and Google keep implementing weird changes in a patchwork attempt to make messaging between iPhone and Android suck less. Something that could be resolved if Apple just adopted RCS. But, Apple has blatantly refused to do so, and here we are.

Apple still refuses to adopt RCS

As a quick refresher on the situation, RCS is a new messaging standard created by Google (and carriers, although Google seems to have largely left carriers behind to make RCS globally available). RCS replaces the older SMS and MMS standards, enabling a modern messaging experience with higher res photo and video sharing, better group chat support, and more.

Meanwhile, Apple “solved” the SMS and MMS problem by creating iMessage, its own modern messaging platform that only works between Apple devices. iMessages appear in blue bubbles and have a ton of extra features, like Tapbacks, better image and video sharing, group chats, and more. However, when an iPhone user messages someone without an iPhone, it falls back to SMS/MMS (shown with green bubbles) and all those extra features people have come to love vanish. The difference is so drastic that it’s started causing social issues — for example, kids exclude people who don’t have iPhones from groups just because of the green bubble.

Now, it’s worth noting that this problem is significantly worse in North America, where iPhone adoption is generally higher. In many other regions, most people rely on third-party messaging services like WhatsApp, regardless of which smartphone brand they use.

Still, people have called for Apple to add support for RCS, which would significantly improve the default iPhone-to-Android messaging experience. Google has also embarked on a campaign to shame Apple into supporting RCS. Apple wouldn’t even need to scrap iMessage to do it — RCS could still be part of the green bubbles. But, Apple has made it clear it has no plans to make this happen, to the point that CEO Tim Cook publicly told someone to buy an iPhone to resolve green bubble messaging issues.

And the reason Apple is so keen to keep the subpar SMS experience around is that iMessage is an effective tool to keep people using iPhones. That thought process was revealed during the Epic Games trial when emails from Apple execs were published detailing how Apple relies on iMessage to lock customers into the platform.

Source: Apple Via: @DurvidImel, 9to5Google, Droid-Life

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Mobile Syrup

How to view/restore deleted iMessages in iOS 16

If you’ve updated to iOS 16, you’re probably excited about the ability to delete and edit messages, but what happens if you delete the wrong thing?

Well, don’t worry because Apple has made it relatively easy to recover your deleted messages.

Just open the Messages app and tap on ‘Edit’ in the top left corner. Some users might have a button that says ‘Filter’  here instead, but you can tap on it and it will take you to the same place.

From that drop-down menu, select ‘Show Recently Deleted.’ After that, you’ll be shown a list of all your deleted conversations, and you can pick what ones to recover.

It”s important to note that these recovered conversations are only available for up to 40 days after you delete them before they’re automatically remvoed.

Source: Apple

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Mobile Syrup

iPhone 14, 14 Pro having iMessage, FaceTime issues after set up

Apple warned that those setting up new iPhone 14 or 14 Pro devices may have issues setting up iMessage and FaceTime.

Per an Apple support document spotted by 9to5Mac:

“iMessage and FaceTime might not complete activation on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro. Update to the latest version of iOS to address the issue.”

Apple goes on to explain that after setting up a new iPhone 14 or 14 Pro, some people may not receive iMessages or FaceTime calls, conversations in messages might show up as two separate threads, and recipients might see your messages coming from the wrong account (such as your email address if you had selected your phone number).

Oh, and most devastating of all: some people might see a green message bubble instead of a blue one. An unfortunate side effect of relying on iMessage for high-quality texting is that when iMessage breaks, you end up falling back to SMS (the green bubbles), a years-old standard that has not kept up with modern messaging expectations. Tim Cook seems to think the solution to green bubble problems is buying an iPhone, but apparently, that doesn’t include the newest iPhones.

Before you panic over having to send a green bubble like the Android plebs, you should know that Apple has fixed the problem with iOS version 16.0.1, which dropped yesterday. iOS 16.0.1 includes a few bug fixes for the new iPhones, including an issue photos may appear soft when zooming in landscape.

The update should fix iMessage and FaceTime activation issues, getting you back into the blue bubble crew. Most iPhones should prompt you to install the new software during setup, but if that doesn’t happen, you can download the update afterwards by going to Settings > General > Software Update.

If you still have issues after updating, Apple suggests making sure your iPhone is connected to a cellular network and then heading into Settings > Messages > Send & Receive and selecting the phone number you want to use with the Messages app.

Source: Apple Via: 9to5Mac

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Tim Cook says buy an iPhone to fix green bubble messaging issues

Google’s ongoing campaign to shame Apple into adding RCS — the search giant’s modern replacement for the SMS and MMS text messaging standards — has clearly had no effect on Apple CEO Tim Cook.

During a question period at Vox Media’s Code 2022 event on Wednesday night (via The Verge), Cook was asked how Apple founder Steve Jobs would feel about using the RCS standard on iPhones. Cook said it wasn’t something iPhone users were asking for and instead suggested anyone bothered by messaging issues should get an iPhone.

“I don’t hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy in on [RCS] at this point,” Cook said. “I would love to convert you to an iPhone.”

Vox Media’s LiQuan Hunt, who asked the initial question, followed up by pointing out the lack of interoperability in messaging between iPhone and Android, noting that people like Hunt’s mother can’t see videos he sends to her.

“Buy your mom an iPhone,” said Cook.

No surprise — platform lock-in is the point

The response has created quite a stir among tech writers and spawned several blog posts (like this one) about messaging between iPhones and Android devices. But here’s the thing: this absolutely is not a surprise. We’ve known since the Epic Games trial that Apple relies on iMessage to keep people on iPhone. Emails shared during the trial revealed Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said that “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.” Federighi wasn’t the only one, with the general sentiment from Apple execs being that iMessage was key to locking people into the iPhone platform.

Here are the basics of what’s going on, and why it’s such a problem. For years, phones used SMS and MMS as the standard for texting and picture messages. Except, SMS and MMS is old and lacks several features expected from modern messaging platforms, like high-res video and picture sharing, texting over Wi-Fi, and more.

So, Apple added iMessage to its products. iMessage is a closed messaging system that kicks in automatically when you send a message from one Apple device to another. However, since iMessage is only on Apple devices, iPhones drop back to the SMS standard when you text someone with a non-Apple smartphone. The switch between standards is designated with blue text bubbles for iMessage and green bubbles for SMS. That’s where the problems come in — for iPhone users, texting with Android users becomes an awful experience. It breaks group chats, pictures and videos come across as blurry or low-res, and popular iMessage features stop working.

That difference is part of what keeps iPhone users on iPhone. It creates pressure from iPhone users on other smartphone users to get an iPhone and be part of the blue bubble crew. It’s even problematic with youth, where it’s become common for kids to be excluded from groups because they have a green bubble.

There are solutions, but Apple won’t like them

To be fair, this seems to be a distinctly North American problem, since the split between iPhone and Android adoption is about even in the U.S. and Canada, while smartphone users in other places like Europe or China largely rely on third-party messaging platforms like WhatsApp or WeChat that are available on all smartphones. Still, the iMessage issue is a problem, and one with several solutions (none of which Apple will get on board with).

The first is RCS. It isn’t iMessage, and it’s not trying to be. Google worked with carriers (but later ventured out on its own) to introduce RCS as a replacement for the ageing SMS and MMS standards that formed the backbone of texting for years.  RCS modernizes texting and improves things like group messaging, and Google’s working to bring end-to-end encryption to RCS chats too. The clear solution to most people (aside from Cook) would be to replace SMS with RCS everywhere, including iPhones. Then, iPhone users could still benefit from using iMessage when chatting with other iPhone users, but messaging Android users wouldn’t be such a jarring change.

Judging by Cook’s response to the idea, that won’t happen.

Some have speculated that Apple could bring iMessage to Android as a subscription service. That also won’t happen, and if you’re wondering why, scroll back up and read the part about how Apple execs consider iMessage as a tool to lock customers into iPhone again.

So, where does that leave us? Well, people could use third-party messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, etc. The only real issue with that is people gravitate towards the default option and, in my experience, it can be incredibly difficult to get people to use a messaging platform if they have to go an install an app (especially people who aren’t tech savvy).

Perhaps we could get RCS adoption to the point where it’s a ubiquitous standard like SMS and then have carriers deprecate SMS in favour of RCS. At that point, Apple will either need to add RCS or break the ability for iPhone users to message Android users entirely. But, that could take years, if it ever even happens. Plus, there are no guarantees carriers would drop SMS, or that Apple wouldn’t willingly break messaging with Android users out of spite.

You could, as Cook so eloquently said, just buy an iPhone. Give into the monopolistic machine and join the blue bubble crew. Or flip it on its head — next time an iPhone user is upset they got a blurry photo from you, remind them that the photo you sent was high-res, but their iPhone couldn’t receive it because it uses an ancient messaging standard.

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Apple online services like iMessage, iCloud and Apple Music are currently down

It looks like Apple’s online services are down, according to Down Detector.

Services like Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Maps, iTunes, App Store and more are all reportedly experiencing issues. The tracking website indicates that the issue started happening after 12:30pm EST.

Users trying to access those services will have to wait until servers go back up.

Apple’s Support Twitter page has yet to tweet anything official, but checking the ‘Tweets and replies’ section there seem to be some users reporting the issues. Additionally, Apple’s official support page indicates exactly which apps aren’t functioning.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has also reported that Apple’s corporate and retail internal systems are also down.

Source: Down Detector

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iMessages reactions will soon appear as emojis on Google Messages

Google is starting to roll out iMessage reaction support in beta for Android users that makes cross-platform messages more interactable.

The iMessage reactions — officially known as ‘tapbacks’ — normally appear as a text description of the reaction on Google Messages, but the new beta update displays the tapbacks similar to how they appear on iMessage; in the bottom-right corner of the message bubble.

What’s changed, however, is how these reactions translate from an iPhone to an Android device. Reacting to a message with a ‘Heart’ shows up as the smiley face with heart eyes emoji (😍), whereas the ‘Haha’ react would show up as the face with tears of joy emoji (😂).

Similarly, the ‘Exclamation Mark’ reaction shows up as the face with open mouth emoji (😮), and the ‘Question Mark’ reaction translates as the thinking face emoji (🤔).

The reaction feature is enabled by default on Android devices with Google Messages though it can be toggled off by going to Advanced Messages’ Settings and switching off the ‘Show iPhone reactions as emoji’ toggle bar.

The new feature is starting to show up for Google Messages beta users, though we are not sure when Google intends to roll it out widely.

Image credit: 9to5Google

Source: 9to5Google

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Apple Messages bug is sending read receipts even if you turn them off

Apple’s popular Messages app has a new bug that will show read receipts even when users have them turned off.

Initially spotted by MacWorld (via 9to5Mac), several users have reported the issue with iOS 15. However, it’s been seen before on older versions of iOS. It’s not clear how widespread the issue is, but at the moment there doesn’t seem to be anything users can do to fully resolve the problem. Some impacted users were able to temporarily fix the problem by restarting their iPhones.

For those unfamiliar with read receipts, they’re a popular feature on many messaging and chat platforms. In short, if you send a message to someone, the app will show when it delivered the message and will show when the recipient has read the message. For some, it’s a helpful way to monitor the status of a message. For others, it’s an annoyance — some people might read a message and not be able to respond right away, which could cause offence if the sender sees the read receipt but doesn’t receive a response.

Because of that, some people like to turn off read receipts (you can do that with iMessage by heading to the Settings app, then Messages and scrolling to ‘Send Read Receipts’ on your Apple device).

Of course with the current bug, turning off rear receipts might not stop your phone from sending them. Hopefully, Apple fixes the problem soon — likely in a future iOS update. For the time being, you might want to not open any messages you receive unless you want the sender to see you’ve read them.

Source: MacWorld Via: 9to5Mac