Member-only story

How in-app chat can solve the dreadful UX of iOS-Android messaging

Ryan Hatch
UX Collective
Published in
6 min readNov 2, 2020
A screenshot of a text message thread sent via SMS from an Android device.
Most iOS users would rather communicate with these various platforms than interact with a single green SMS.

This article was originally published on November 2, 2020, at Stream.

The Green Text.

For iPhone users, few interactions on the device elicit such suffering and stress — or outright torment — as does the subjugation of an SMS (Short Message Service) text rendered in green. And inboxes are littered with them: political text messages have flooded mobile phones in the last few months, all of which are sent via SMS. So, too, are spam hits, two-factor authentication codes, credit card receipts, appointment confirmations, and many more sterile green messages sent to iPhones absent any point of human contact. And so, to no fault of their own, people sending text messages to iOS users from Android devices — which exclusively deploys SMS — are reflexively categorized as unwelcome communication. Both parties are poorer for the experience.

Since the iPhone launched, in 2007, iMessage (debut: Oct. 2011) may just be the most delightful and influential product Apple has created. And the reasons are many; few, after all, can resist typing indicators and read receipts while seamlessly exchanging pictures, videos, and documents alongside emoji reactions. Today, iMessage is available on almost all Apple devices, platform agnosticism its defining characteristic. Users can access iMessage on mobile…

The author made this story available to Medium members only.
If you’re new to Medium, create a new account to read this story on us.

Or, continue in mobile web

Already have an account? Sign in

Published in UX Collective

We believe designers are thinkers as much as they are makers. Curated stories on UX, Visual & Product Design. https://linktr.ee/uxc

No responses yet

What are your thoughts?