So you just leave it to the data octopus WhatsApp because it is a quasi-standard?

Yes, I know there are alternatives, but they are few and far between. And so there are a lot of people who actually only use WA because of peer pressure, but actually want to get away from it!

Anyone who then continues to use WA etc. decides for themselves in the absence of an alternative that works for everyone.

The default on all devices should be SMS > _MMS > RCS. This would have to be supported by all devices and providers. But since Apple balked for a long time and so did the providers, we have this salad today.
RCS should be made available as an alternative. A German Telekom offers RCS, and the market leader in Switzerland can’t get it together?

and that is exactly where the disastrous lies.

Such companies could quickly change strategy, analogous to Twitter, and because of the network effect you are trapped.

If the provider also offered a solution, no one would be trapped.

However, these are also (politically) strategic decisions.

---

@staheldominik wrote:

and that’s exactly where the disastrous thing lies.

Such companies could quickly change strategy

If the provider also offered a solution, no one would be trapped.

---

Right, it could, but the companies don’t want to. I’ve written this a few times but again… it costs a lot of money. Spend so much money on what? You’re betting on a dead horse here! As a telco provider, I would have to think carefully about whether I wanted to introduce something like that today. At the moment, rather, no! I can absolutely understand why people are no longer interested. The train just left. Who still demands RCS today? Exactly, actually nobody. Only an absolute minority. That’s simply a fact.

It’s a fact that demand is low, it’s true. but why? My guess; Apple, as one of the largest handheld computer manufacturers, did not install RCS because they wanted to protect iMessage. There are MMS and SMS. MMS was switched off, SMS remained. Therefore, to transfer images, you have to switch to a chat app that can do it.

Apple used to be able to do very little, but a lot has changed. I prefer to think in long horizons.

Yes, it costs money.
But Swisscom in particular has high subscription fees, so you can earn decent money. In addition, there are the fees that other providers pay on the Swisscom network.
I see it like @staheldominik you should partially free yourself from the dependencies and offer an alternative on the provider side.

The next discussion that is being held because of costs is the introduction of cell broadcasting.

@staheldominik

The main problem is not Apple, but the time when RCS was introduced… it worked with Samsung cell phones, but sometimes only with Samsung. In addition, everyone cooked their own soup, etc. The second huge problem, just the timing… WhatsApp has been established for years. The train is long gone, a stillborn.

I have to say, I wouldn’t mind if RCS were reintroduced on a large scale, but I can completely understand why Swisscom and Co. are simply no longer interested. Exactly, it costs money and you don’t make any money anymore. I also dare to predict that even if… the demand for RCS will be very, very limited. Do a street poll… I’m sure the majority don’t even know what RCS is!

Anyone who has a problem with WhatsApp’s data protection can now use Threema, for example, which works perfectly. With Threema you can even set the language to Schwiizerdüütsch. Well, even I don’t long for RCS, or unfortunately not anymore today.

Thank you for recommending Threema. Really great! But… everyone uses Whatsapp and almost no one uses Threema. In addition, I have been a user from the very beginning. Network effect, network effect, network effect.

Regarding Apple, if someone is reluctant, I can see problems with that party too.

@jacobacci

With SMS, you can generally only use it on the main device, but not on additional devices. If you have everything in the Apple or Samsung Kosmos, you can also use it on the additional devices because the devices work well together. Here, however, you have a mixture of Apple and Samsung, which is already difficult. The biggest problem, however, is RCS. To this day, RCS is and remains simply a huge failure. The demand for RCS is hardly there… and yes… this is certainly not likely to change despite Apple’s support! Try it out and download the Google Messages app on Samsung devices. Either it works or it doesn’t. Certainly nothing much will happen there, because the problem that you linked to, that a code was constantly being delivered, was several years ago and to this day no one has ever complained about it here.

Rcs

Unfortunately I can’t edit above there is a link to iOS 18 and RCS affects all providers in CH!🙃🙃🙃

Thank you for the link to support from Apple, it’s a shame.

@DonInfinity

Thanks for your answer. Yes, that’s exactly what I thought and I predicted it here more than 2 months ago. Will RCS really come back? We’ll see, I’m still skeptical. RCS hasn’t been an issue for a while and just because Apple now supports it, should it suddenly change everything again? The problem here is simply the timing. I mean, it’s almost 2025! The train has long since left for RCS. iMessage and of course other messenger services such as WhatsApp and Co. have long since established themselves. It can also be assumed that there is hardly any demand for RCS. And last but not least… you don’t make any money with such services today, whereas 20 years ago the providers still made a killing with SMS prices. For all of these reasons, providers today are probably simply no longer interested in RCS. The focus is on further network expansion, especially 5G etc… RCS is certainly not a priority for everyone.

An article on the subject of “RCS” that is worth reading can be found here:

[https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000229730/rcs-warum-iphone-user-in-oesterreich-weiterhin-auf-den-sms-nachfollower-warten-muessen] (https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000229730/rcs-warum-iphone-user-in-oesterreich-weiterhin-auf-den-sms-nachfollower-warten-muessen)

What applies to Austria also applies to Switzerland and its 3 public mobile phone providers Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt.

The data protection arguments described in this article should be taken seriously: Protecting data transmission via an HTTPS data transmission that is encrypted right down to the core network of the mobile provider (more precisely: IMS) is better than the unencrypted data transmission of SMS.

If the Swiss mobile phone providers do not want to implement RCS in the “Universal Profile” UP version in their core network, the legislature will have to intervene and oblige the mobile phone providers to do so. It was similar recently in the EU with the USB-C power connection requirement and the 5-year security update guarantee for mobile phones.

I consider isolated solutions such as WhatsApp and Threema to be emergency solutions to bridge the period until all mobile phones and mobile networks support the same SMS/MMS successor. Whether this successor solution will be RCS in the form of “Universal Profile” (UP) depends largely on the actions of the legislators (EU?).

From iOS 18 onwards, Fallobst supports RCS in the “Universal Profile” (UP) version.

[https://www.digitec.ch/de/page/ios-18-ist-da-alles-was-du-zum-update-wissen-musst-34790](https://www.digitec.ch/ de/page/ios-18-is-here-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-update-34790)

This article provides technical information about RCS in the “Universal Profile” (UP) version:

[https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/Apple-f%C3%BChrt-RCS-Chatprotocol-ein-und-Swisscom-schaltung-RCS/m-p/798139#M13624] (https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/Apple-f%C3%BChrt-RCS-Chatprotocol-ein-und-Swisscom-schaltung-RCS/m-p/798139#M13624)

Before I have to download 3-provider software onto my iPhone, I prefer an OS that supports SMS sending between iPhone and Android.

This means WhatsApp, among other things, is superfluous.

In contrast to Switzerland, there is already communication from the network operators in Austria, let’s hope that there is just a little delay here.

Sunrise customers have also expressed their interest in the relevant forum, but have not yet received clear communication there either.

Contribution:

[https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000229730/rcs-warum-iphone-user-in-oesterreich-weiterhin-auf-den-sms-nachfollower-warten-muessen?ref=rss] (https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000229730/rcs-warum-iphone-user-in-oesterreich-weiterhin-auf-den-sms-nachfollower-warten-muessen?ref=rss)