All posts tagged: texting

iOS 19 to Improve Texting With Android Users in Five Ways

iOS 19 to Improve Texting With Android Users in Five Ways

Published by skeptic

Apple this week said that it plans to add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to the Messages app in future iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS software updates, and that news actually has some additional implications. As noted by 9to5Mac‘s Michael Burkhardt, Apple has indirectly confirmed that it will be adopting the RCS Universal Profile 3.0 specification, which includes not only end-to-end encryption, but also several other iMessage-like enhancements that were originally introduced in version 2.7 of the specification. iOS 18 supports RCS Universal Profile 2.4. Here are five new capabilities to expect for RCS conversations: End-to-end encryption, which will prevent Apple and any other third party from being able to read messages and attachments while they are being sent between devices, as has always been the case with iMessage In-line replies Edit messages Unsend messages Full-fledged Tapback support for RCS messages, ensuring they always work iMessage conversations with blue bubbles have supported end-to-end encryption by default since iOS 5. In addition, iMessage has supported in-line replies since iOS 14, while the options to edit …

Apple Lost the Plot on Texting

Apple Lost the Plot on Texting

Published by José

For a brief moment earlier this month, I thought an old acquaintance had passed away. I was still groggy one morning when I checked my phone to find a notification delivering the news. “Obituary shared,” the message bluntly said, followed by his name. But when I opened my phone, I learned that he was very much still alive. Apple’s latest software update was to blame: A new feature that uses AI to summarize iPhone notifications had distorted the original text message. It wasn’t my acquaintance who had died, but a relative of his. That’s whose obituary I had received. These notification summaries are perhaps the most visible part of Apple Intelligence, the company’s long-awaited suite of AI features, which officially began to roll out last month. (It’s compatible with only certain devices.) We are living in push-notification hell, and Apple Intelligence promises to collapse the incessant stream of notifications into pithy recaps. Instead of setting your iPhone aside while you shower and returning to nine texts, four emails, and two calendar alerts, you can now …

3 DIY Background Check Tricks You Must Use When Online Dating | Paula Mooney

3 DIY Background Check Tricks You Must Use When Online Dating | Paula Mooney

Published by skeptic

I can see why folks who want to meet the love of their life would turn to dating sites like Tinder or Kovla to brighten their days with a person who just “gets” them. It’s true, we’re never too old to give up on love or to stop imagining the prospects of a happy marriage — even if we’ve been divorced and escaped an unhappy marriage. But instead of going all wide-eyed and full of naiveté onto one of those dating sites and falling for the first man or woman who promises you the moon, it helps to use Google for all it’s worth to make sure the person is telling you the truth before you fall head over heels in love with them. RELATED: 10 Rules For Meeting Your Online Crush For The First Time — To Find Out If Its The Real Thing Here are 3 DIY background check tricks you must use when online dating: 1. Perform a Google Image search on all photos they send you Google is so cool. If …

How To Tell If A Guy Likes You: Decoding His Text Messages | Hayley Matthews

How To Tell If A Guy Likes You: Decoding His Text Messages | Hayley Matthews

Published by skeptic

Men are not known for their ability to communicate well. Put two screens and at least a couple of feet between you, and what used to be difficult to decode is now practically impossible. You no longer need to fret over what his text messages really mean, though, because this is how to tell if a guy likes you. With a little bit of research and a whole lot of personal experience, I think I’ve translated at least part of his Martian language. His 9 most confusing text messages — and what they really mean: 1. “Hey” He’s interested in you and wants the two of you to talk. But he couldn’t come up with a better transition from your non-conversation than “Hey.” He’s not very creative. But if you’re interested, you should go ahead and respond. RELATED: 17 Flirty Texts To Send Him That’ll Make Him Think About You Nonstop 2. “Lol” He may or may not think what you’ve said is humorous, but he is not ready for the conversation to end. He’s using “lol” …

How RCS on iPhone Will Make Texting Better for Everyone

How RCS on iPhone Will Make Texting Better for Everyone

Published by skeptic

For years, I was a nuisance to anyone with an iPhone. While I proudly toted my Samsung Galaxy devices, my friends would deplore the havoc I’d wreak on any text or group chat by “turning everything green.” There’s apparently nothing worse to an iMessage user than an Android user who crashes their precious blue bubble party.  I’ve since given up the fight and switched to the iPhone, and now reap the many benefits of iMessage, including sending high-resolution photos and videos, seeing typing indicators and sharing reactions. These perks are limited to messaging fellow iPhone users. I’m now the one who, much to my chagrin, laments getting green texts from anyone on the “outside.” Exclusivity brings out the worst in us.  Read more: Best iPhone to Buy in 2024 Now that Apple has said it’ll adopt Rich Communication Services messaging, things should get better. RCS is a protocol that replaces SMS (Short Message Service) and has a lot of the same features as iMessage, including typing indicators, high-resolution media sharing and end-to-end encryption. It’s already available …

Not Just the iPhone: Google Needs to Push RCS Texting Even Further

Not Just the iPhone: Google Needs to Push RCS Texting Even Further

Published by skeptic

RCS texting is on its way to the iPhone. But Apple’s phones are not the only ones that still lack access to the more modern texting standard.  Google, which has invested considerably in building up RCS while touting promises of how it could bring typing indicators and higher-quality group chats, spent years pushing for Apple to adopt the messaging standard. It even built features into Google Messages like support for message reactions, in an attempt to make texting iPhone users a little less awful. Finally, by late 2023, Apple announced RCS support would be coming to iOS in 2024, bringing hope that improved texting between Android and iOS, complete with typing indicators and high-quality media, could actually happen. But if RCS is truly meant to replace the antiquated SMS and MMS texting that most phones have been stuck with for decades, it needs to arrive on all phones. Not just Android phones, and not just Apple’s iPhone. That includes basic phones, like flip phones and other minimalistic feature phones one might turn to for a …

‘Hermeneutic Labour’ Is What You Do When You Try To Read Your Man’s Mind

‘Hermeneutic Labour’ Is What You Do When You Try To Read Your Man’s Mind

Published by skeptic

As Ellie Anderson approached 30, she started thinking about all the time she and her friends had wasted poring over conversations and texts they’d received from men they’d dated: Was that stray “K” over text cause for alarm? How long should you wait to say you had a great time on a date and want to do it again soon without coming on too strong? “These conversations generally happened when one of us started dating a new guy. A lot of the time, we’d try to guess at what a guy wanted and how to avoid ‘freaking him out,’” said Anderson, an assistant professor of philosophy at Pomona College in Claremont, California. Of course, the early days of a relationship are often a period of uncertainty. Still, it seemed to Anderson that the uncertainty usually worked in men’s favor. Meanwhile, it forced women to spend a lot of time trying to guess at men’s feelings because the men themselves were unwilling or unable to fully express themselves. That kind of unspoken work deserved a definition, …

19 Signs You’re Nothing More Than His Digital Mistress | Debra Smouse

19 Signs You’re Nothing More Than His Digital Mistress | Debra Smouse

Published by skeptic

That last thing Dawn thought she would ever be is someone’s mistress. Yet here she was, eight months into a “relationship with a guy we’ll call Allen, realizing that’s exactly what she was — his digital mistress. Dawn began dating Allen shortly after her divorce. There was an exciting feel to the beginning of the relationship. They met through an online dating site, progressed to dinner, and the first kiss was sizzling knock-your-socks-off delicious. He wanted to know everything about her, and that flattered Dawn. He asked her questions no one ever had. It wasn’t long before Saturday night dinners and overnights became the norm. They never got together for lunches or mid-week dinners, but Allen stayed in touch. They emailed a little and texted a lot. He texted each morning and wished her sweet dreams every night. She was basking in his seemingly constant attention. Dawn was falling hard for Allen. Their digital exchanges seemed so private and so intimately one-on-one. About eight weeks in, something changed. What is a digital mistress? Being a digital mistress …

Google Reveals When to Expect RCS Support on iPhone for Improved Texting With Android Users

Google Reveals When to Expect RCS Support on iPhone for Improved Texting With Android Users

Published by skeptic

In November, Apple announced that the iPhone would support the cross-platform messaging standard RCS (Rich Communication Services) in the Messages app starting “later” in 2024, and Google has since revealed a more narrow timeframe. In a since-deleted section of the revamped Google Messages web page, spotted by 9to5Google, Google said that Apple would be adopting RCS on the iPhone in the “fall of 2024.” This timeframe suggests that RCS support will be added to the iPhone with iOS 18, which should be available in beta in June and released in September. At the latest, support should be added in iOS 18.1, which is likely to be released in October. RCS support should result in the following improvements in the Messages app for conversations between iPhones and Android smartphones: Higher-resolution photos and videos Audio messages Typing indicators Read receipts Wi-Fi messaging Improved group chats, including the ability for iPhone users to leave a conversation that includes Android users These modern features are already available for iMessage, and in many third-party messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and …

Why A Certain Type Of Text Message Ruins Even The Best Relationships | Dr. Randi Gunther

Why A Certain Type Of Text Message Ruins Even The Best Relationships | Dr. Randi Gunther

Published by skeptic

Texting has become one of the most popular forms of instant communication today. And because intimate partners are likely to save these messages, they form a valuable archived written history of their relationship’s “story”. This ongoing record provides a unique opportunity for men and women to evaluate the types of text messages they send, whether or not their communication skills are helping or hindering their relationships, and the extent to which the quality of their texts synchronizes with the quality of their typical face-to-face interactions. RELATED: 12 Tiny Promises The Happiest Married Couples Make Here’s why a certain type of text message ruins even the best relationships — and what to do about it: 1. Message length In my discussions with couples I work with, most couples believe women are “wordier” than men, but whoever is the most talkative depends on the subject and situation in question. These couples also unanimously tell me men like to hear the bottom line first, then work up to the detailed back story (and only if necessary), whereas women like …