Group chats could be better between Android and iOS — but only for iPhones

Messaging changes in iOS 17 may be on the way to ease some of the pain involved in group chats between iPhone and Android owners. people on xda developers The iOS 17 developer beta released yesterday spotted some new messaging behavior, meaning iOS users will retain some of the benefits of iMessage chat, even in mixed company. If the new features make it to the full iOS 17 release, it’ll be a win for iPhone owners — and a mixed bag for those on Android.

Right now, a group chat with both Android and iOS users relegate everyone to green bubbles and antiquated SMS/MMS protocols that limit the quality of shared images and videos And Removes iMessage features like the ability to edit sent messages. iPhone owners simply don’t get all the features they enjoy in iOS chat, with Android owners getting blamed for toning down the vibe — it’s a weird one for everyone. But things may be different in iOS 17.

xda That said, with the beta installed, iOS users have been able to edit their own green-bubble messages in mixed group chats. Images and videos are also shared at the higher resolution available in iMessage. They can also thread responses as replies to specific messages, just like in iMessage. clean! But here’s the downside: only other iPhone users can see it. Android users still get low-quality images and videos, edits made to text are not visible, and threaded replies appear as regular messages with only the rest of the conversation.

At least, that’s how it all behaves today. This is all subject to change in the final release. It’s possible that Apple will add some function to send edited text as additional separate messages and indicate which messages are replies. Its Too It’s possible that Apple will scrap the whole thing completely before the full iOS 17 release in the fall, so take this with a huge grain of salt.

But as someone who is often the lone Android user in group chats, I personally welcome anything that takes some of the heat off me for audacity not to use an iPhone. Or, you know, RCS would be nice, but at least it would be a start.