[asclepi]

The same applies. Messages can perfectly handle group messages that include a mix of iOS and Android users. Unlike Whatsapp, Messages doesn't require that every participant has Messages, nor that they have an iPhone. Messages will send each and every group message to every Android user in the group using SMS.

But it will color the bubble green. And that's why they get locked out.

[tkxxx7]

> But it will color the bubble green. And that's why they get locked out.

You seem to be attaching too much significance to the color. It really is because the experience sucks over SMS. The annoyance with the green color is just a symbol of that frustration. I implore you, to try having a meaningful group chat with a mix of users. Having just one Android user instantly degrades the experience for everyone involved.

> Unlike Whatsapp, Messages doesn't require that every participant has Messages, nor that they have an iPhone. Messages will send each and every group message to every Android user in the group using SMS.

Messages isn't the problem. Group SMS is.

You are forced into transitioning out of a group chat model, to a broadcast SMS one. All the usual issues apply - increased delays/out of order messages, no read receipts, Android phones randomly creating multiple smaller groups or just shitting out completely.. Any semblance of real-time destroyed.

[asclepi]

> You seem to be attaching too much significance to the color.

I'm not. That is what the Twitter OP indicated as the actual reason.

He was left out "specifically because he was on Android and turned the thread green" (sic). Or in the student's own words: "we would start a new group chat, and the group would realize I was the reason it was green, and they would start another group chat without me". Nowhere is mentioned that the degraded experience is the reason.

It could be that that the SMS experience is the reason when it comes to adults who are mature enough to leave the green/blue behind them but have a lot less tolerance for poor UX.

But for teens - which is what this thread is about - I fully agree with OP's conclusion that the social stigma surrounding the color is the primary reason.

[saagarjha]

I feel that teenagers aren't as different from adults are you think they are, although they might be more likely to consolidate their frustrations with something pithy like "bubble color".

[tkxxx7]

> turned the thread green

This is a short, colloquial way of expressing all of those frustrations. It’s assumed everyone knows already, not some aesthetic thing.

[lotsofpulp]

>It could be that that the SMS experience is the reason when it comes to adults who are mature enough to leave the green/blue behind them but have a lot less tolerance for poor UX.

From poor country to rich country, I have never met teens who are less tech savvy than adults. If anything, adults have problems even understanding the difference between SMS, MMS, and other messaging protocols. Teens are the ones using the new features from iMessages, not most adults.

[Terretta]

To be clear, it doesn’t go green because Android, it goes green because SMS.

iPhone users not signed into iCloud, Messages just does SMS, and they’ll turn it green too.