Google Messages App Now Available for iPhone Users: Here’s What You Need to Know
iPhone users can now send messages to other people who do not use the iMessage platform. All these years, Apple has built a walled garden that has restricted iOS users to apps like WhatsApp to send messages to people using Android phones.
But gradually we are seeing a change in this trend thanks to recently introduced apps like Beeper. RCS Messaging is a technology developed by Google that Apple continues to block in iOS to ensure that iMessage remains relevant to millions of iPhone users around the world.
But using apps like Beeper defeats that purpose, especially since it’s a hub for all your messaging apps, which include WhatsApp, iMessage, Google Messages, and more. New support for the Beeper app was recently introduced, allowing iPhone users to access Google’s RCS messages without Apple’s restrictions.
Beeper has said that the iPhone’s RCS messaging integration is still in beta, so you may experience issues using the app on your device until the bugs are fixed.
The app itself seems to have a specific enrollment strategy where users have to sign up to a waiting list and wait for the company to allow access to the Beeper app via the iPhone app download link. RCS messages via Beeper only work on iPhone if you already have an Android phone with an active mobile number linked to the RCS Messages app.
It’s interesting that Beeper has survived Apple’s strict App Store policy, especially since the app supports one app that Tim Cook and Co. have flatly refused to offer to their users on iOS. In fact, Cook had said in a recent interview that he would rather have a person (an Android user) buy an iPhone than support RCS messages on the iPhone.
