I would prefer to use a standardised, client–agnostic messaging protocol than anything that requires a specific app.
I stopped using WhatsApp because using a Meta product makes me feel icky. I use Telegram and Matrix to contact drug dealers. My work requires a combination of Google Chat, Teams and Slack. Some of my friends like to stick to Discord.
What would be really great is if we could all decide on one protocol for sending end–to–end encrypted text and media over HTTPS to a globally unique ID and have everyone use whatever client they like. Like SMTP but more streamlined and secure. Google, Apple, Samsung etc can ship devices with a default client, but allow users to install another one that they like more.
But OEMs don't like things to be open. Apple has iMessage, Google has RCS, and Samsung probably does some bullshit I'm not aware of since committing to the Pixel life. So I will probably always have a folder with 15 different messaging apps.
Samsung is RCS as well, as far as I'm aware RCS is supposed to be a platform agnostic upgrade to MMS. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I thought RCS not being supported by iOS is simply because Apple won't implement it.
I believe it's due to North America making text messages free early on, while many other places charged for them. As a result, the culture of texting stuck.
Yeah, that's true. You don't want to know how many times I've messaged someone on an arguably better platform only for them to say, "I prefer text". It's annoying...