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by cjk2 785 days ago
I'm not in the US but this is not a thing anywhere in the UK at least. Everyone uses WhatsApp. Same with all my friends in Europe. Same with my kids and their friends, although they all seem to be on SnapChat more than anything.

Actually we don't even tend to bother even talking about which phones you have. It's just meh. My best friend doesn't even know what iMessage is as an example.
2 comments
hu3 785 days ago
It's a US problem. First link of a quick search:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/03/apples-green-bub...

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cjk2 785 days ago
So it's more a problem with the humans than the technology.
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rpdillon 785 days ago
I think it's economic. The US has free texting these days, which means SMS has more usage here than in another countries. This has prevented the entire nation from coalesing around one chat app, as so many others have.
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distances 785 days ago
Every country in Europe I'm familiar with has free texts, but I think I can count with one hand the SMS I've received in the last ~10 years from actual people. Absolutely nobody sends SMS over here.

Might be that US got the free texts first though. Not sure anymore what was the timeline with that.

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imchillyb 784 days ago
When Whatsapp was released, free text messaging was not a thing for most of europe. The USA had long since ditched charging for sms messaging by that point, so the attractiveness of a free communications app wasn't there.

Also, there are carriers in europe that offer bundle discounts and better data packages for opting out of sms altogether.

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MindSwipe 785 days ago
I've had unlimited free texting in western Europe for over a decade now, and so have many other western Europeans. I've had unlimited free texting for longer than I have had unlimited mobile data, yet I still use WhatsApp, I even used WhatsApp back when I didn't have free unlimited mobile data.

It's not about free texting or not, IMO it's either about mobile data or laziness.

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cjk2 785 days ago
It has been the same here in the UK for longer. I haven't paid for an SMS for over 20 years.
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HDThoreaun 785 days ago
Texting has always been free so messaging apps never became popular. Most people have always used whatever came with the phone.
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t43562 785 days ago
It's very much a problem that Whatsapp isn't using an open protocol IMO. I really want to use Signal for my family and yet one has to jump from app to app to talk to other people.

It's ridiculous - all I'm asking is for the convenience of email.

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