The biggest updates coming to Apple’s iMessage and its Messages app in iOS 18 aren’t its AI emoji, Genmoji, or even the ability to send texts via satellite.
Because of Apple’s longtime refusal to add support for RCS, texting with Android users meant no typing indicators or read receipts, broken group chats, and blurry photos and videos.
Instead, the text box indicates in a light gray font that your texts with someone support both “Text message + RCS,” while the texts themselves are still green.
However, issues that make the Messages app a broken experience for Apple’s customers will be addressed, it seems, as Apple says it will support the standard later this year.
That’s likely why there was no mention of encrypted messaging in Apple’s announcement of RCS.
An “Apple Intelligence” (AI)-powered feature coming in iOS 18 will allow iPhone users to create AI images of people they’re messaging with — a feature that works something like an AI-upgraded Bitmoji.
Image Credits: AppleFor example, Apple showed off making an AI Bitmoji of a friend celebrating their birthday with an image that included cake, balloons and flowers.
The Genmoji can be used as a sticker for reacting to messages with a Tapback or inline with your messages, Apple said.
Apple Intelligence will also suggest concepts related to your messages conversation, but all this takes place on the device, according to Apple.
Also at WWDC 2024, Apple announced updates to Siri and introduced macOS Sequoia.
Google said today it is partnering with RapidSOS, a platform for emergency first responders, to enable users to contact 911 through RCS (Rich Messaging Service).
Initially, this feature will be available only to Google Messages users.
According to AccesSOS, a non-profit working on emergency contact, only 54% of 911 call centers in the U.S. provide text-to-911 services.
As this feature is based on RCS, which enables rich messaging and media support, users can send pictures and videos to emergency services for better context.
Plus, Android’s emergency location services can provide information such as accurate location and device language to emergency responders to better help people in need and opt-in medical information.
WhatsApp on Tuesday announced a handful of new chat filters for the app to access certain types of messages easily: All, Unread, and Groups.
The “Unread” filter is helpful in looking at messages you might not have seen.
It also helps you get to inbox zero and get rid of the annoying number of unread chat indicators.
Notably, WhatsApp already had a way to look at unread messages through a filter in the search bar.
WhatsApp said that the filter option starts will be rolling out to users starting today and will be available to all users in a few weeks.
Meta is denying that it gave Netflix access to users’ private messages.
Meta’s communications director, Andy Stone, reposted the original X post on Tuesday with a statement disputing that Netflix had been given access to users’ private messages.
However, The New York Times had previously reported in 2018 that Netflix and Spotify could read users’ private messages, according to documents it had obtained.
“No third party was reading your private messages, or writing messages to your friends without your permission.
Many news stories imply we were shipping over private messages to partners, which is not correct,” the blog post stated.
And he would: He’s the co-founder of Read AI, which summarizes video calls across platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.
Shim, previously the CEO of Foursquare, co-founded Read AI with Rob Williams and Elliott Waldron in 2021.
Prior to Read AI, the trio worked together at Foursquare, Snapchat and Shim’s previous startup, Placed (which Foursquare acquired in 2019).
“What makes Read unique is that its AI agents work quietly in the background, enabling your meetings, emails and messages to interact with each other,” Shim said, adding that the average summary from Read AI condenses 50 emails across 10 recipients into a single summary.
“This acceleration in growth can directly be attributed to the quantifiable return users see in terms of time savings when using Read AI in their meetings.”
Telegram Business will likely give Premium another bump as it offers tools and features that can be used by business customers without needing to know how to code.
Similar to features available on WhatsApp, Telegram Business will offer “quick replies,” which are shortcuts to preset messages that support formatting, links, media, stickers and files.
Business customers can also add Telegram bots, including those from other tools or AI assistants, to answer messages on their behalf.
The company said more features will roll out to Telegram Business in future updates.
(They can be found under Settings > Telegram Business in the app.)
WhatsApp announced Thursday that users can now pin up to three messages in a chat to access them easily.
Until now, users could pin only one message on top of a conversation with a contact or a group.
Both Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp head Will Cathcart announced this feature on their respective WhatsApp Channels.
To pin a message, you have to long press on it and select “Pin” from the venue.
This helps you get rid of pinned messages if the information becomes irrelevant on some days.
Beeper gave up on its mission after Apple blocked the app’s efforts late last year.
Each time Beeper issued workarounds and fixes to keep the service afloat, Apple knocked them down one by one.
“Recently, Apple blocked a third-party developer from fixing the broken cross-platform messaging experience in Apple Messages and providing end-to-end encryption for messages between Apple Messages and Android users,” the DOJ complaint reads.
When Apple launched the Apple Watch the following year, it began limiting third-party access to new and improved APIs for smartwatch functionality.
The DOJ notes that Apple prevents iPhone users from responding to notifications using a third-party smartwatch.
The Asian technology and internet company YX International manufactures cellular networking equipment and provides SMS text message routing services.
YX International claims to send five million SMS text messages daily.
But codes sent over SMS text messages are not as secure as stronger forms of 2FA, such as an app-based code generator, since SMS text messages are prone to interception or exposure — or in this case, leaking from a database onto the open web.
TechCrunch found in the exposed database sets of internal email addresses and corresponding passwords associated with YX International, and alerted the company to the spilling database.
YX International would not say for how long the database was exposed.
