Ok, so...first of all I'd like to introduce myself a bit. I had an HTC Droid Incredible waaaaay back in the day when that was a thing and loved Android. I loved it...until Verizon got the iPhone and I switched and never looked back. The Google Pixel has brought me back though!
But...95%+ of my friends and all of my family use iPhones. I have to scroll deep in my messages app to find a single person with green SMS bubbles instead of blue iMessage ones. The only thing that made me hesitate on buying a Pixel and switching to Android was how heavily I use iMessage. I am hoping you guys can help me find a suitable replacement.
I know I am not going to get most people to install a new app just to talk to me, that was the best part about iMessage. However, I am pretty sure I can get my girlfriend, best friends and family to do so and let me keep all the best parts of messaging over the internet instead of buggy, terrible SMS.
Ok, so more specifically what I am looking for: something that works equally well for iOS and Android, can be loaded onto iPads, and has a desktop client compatible with MacOS. I was playing with Allo, but the lack of a desktop client is a real dealbreaker. I thought about WhatsApp, but I guess you can't use that on an iPad without some workarounds and that feature is specifically for my tech-adverse parents. Is Hangouts going to be my only real option? Is Hangouts being phased out? Am I going to pester people to download a messaging app to talk to me that is just going to be discontinued soon in favor of Allo anyway? Should I just suck it up and use SMS?
But...95%+ of my friends and all of my family use iPhones. I have to scroll deep in my messages app to find a single person with green SMS bubbles instead of blue iMessage ones. The only thing that made me hesitate on buying a Pixel and switching to Android was how heavily I use iMessage. I am hoping you guys can help me find a suitable replacement.
I know I am not going to get most people to install a new app just to talk to me, that was the best part about iMessage. However, I am pretty sure I can get my girlfriend, best friends and family to do so and let me keep all the best parts of messaging over the internet instead of buggy, terrible SMS.
Ok, so more specifically what I am looking for: something that works equally well for iOS and Android, can be loaded onto iPads, and has a desktop client compatible with MacOS. I was playing with Allo, but the lack of a desktop client is a real dealbreaker. I thought about WhatsApp, but I guess you can't use that on an iPad without some workarounds and that feature is specifically for my tech-adverse parents. Is Hangouts going to be my only real option? Is Hangouts being phased out? Am I going to pester people to download a messaging app to talk to me that is just going to be discontinued soon in favor of Allo anyway? Should I just suck it up and use SMS?
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