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In the event you purchase a high-end Samsung or iPhone machine, there’s little to decide on between them. It’s the Android OS that has at all times been the catch. However now Google is slowly altering that as effectively—and it’s inflicting severe anger amongst customers…
Google’s newest replace could be very “iPhone”
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3/3 replace beneath; article initially revealed 3/1.
Android is altering—this yr we have now seen an thrilling concentrate on AI upgrades to current apps, in addition to safety crackdowns on dangerous apps and the third-party app retailer ecosystem. And later this yr, we are going to lastly see an replace to texting between Android and iPhone, with Apple’s reluctant RCS concession.
One of many themes right here is management. Apple workout routines it to a excessive diploma over its ecosystem and Google, by Android, historically has not. However that’s altering. Google is closely targeted on the walled backyard parts of its “Play” ecosystem, together with the additional protections accessible to its enormous person base.
Now we have now simply seen the most recent examples of Google’s “Play” fashion of Android changing into ever extra like iPhone. In response to stories, customers with rooted gadgets—taken outdoors the semi-walled backyard—can now not use RCS.
As defined on a Reddit thread that has highlighted the problem: “As of 2024, Google is now quietly blocking RCS messages on rooted Android gadgets. Even when your machine solely has its bootloader unlocked, it’s now liable to being quietly shadowbanned from sending RCS textual content messages.”
A Google spokesperson advised me that “making certain that message-issuing/receiving gadgets are following the working measures outlined by the RCS commonplace is likely one of the methods Google Messages forestall spam and abuse,” and that “as we struggle spammers and fraudsters, we take note of totally different indicators.”
Not a preferred transfer for these impacted. “Shadowbanning is likely one of the most traditional, Orwellian instruments within the censorship toolbox,” complained the unique poster on Reddit, “and it’s getting used in opposition to individuals who paid full value for a tool and pay month-to-month for mobile service. Google is now full-on denying your communications.”
“A big quantity of RCS spam comes from automation, which usually depends on modifications to the sending machine,” Google’s spokesperson defined. “Our spam prevention methods always evolve in response to the altering conduct of spammers. We are going to proceed to search for methods to stop spam and fraud whereas minimizing the variety of customers affected.”
The problems could be tough to work round. In response to one other Reddit poster, “I’ve a rooted Pixel 7 Professional and RCS broke (once more) this morning. Even worse, there’s the potential that issues do not simply magically swap to SMS on different folks’s telephones as a result of your RCS is damaged. You simply will not obtain texts from folks.”
That poster described the replace as “the Applefication of Google,” and that completely sums up what we’re seeing right here. The user-first, purchaser beware philosophy of previous is altering shortly, and people newest AI upgrades will convey ever extra management Google’s means. This has implications for customers, and for Android OEMs—including Samsung, who must navigate the Google tightrope after they push unique innovation.
There’s a workaround that does appear to work—a minimum of for now. In response to 9to5Google, “those that are savvy sufficient to root have discovered a simple sufficient repair that includes bypassing the protection characteristic (Play Integrity API) that appears to be chargeable for stopping RCS entry.”
Tough to inform if any workarounds will persist, although. One other Reddit poster suggests there could also be a cat and mouse recreation behind the scenes as Google tightens up. “Folks have been preventing the play integrity API/machine integrity laborious for the previous few weeks now. For the previous few years, it was comparatively simple to bypass. Now, unexpectedly, issues are breaking way more quickly, and are immune to the identical workarounds which have functioned for years.”
And whereas that poster, and others, confer with this as Orwellian, the spin aspect is that almost all Android customers inside Google’s ecosystem need broadly the identical degree of safety and safety loved by their iPhone counterparts. As such, I don’t see this sort of tightening altering again anytime quickly.
Whereas blocking banking apps and pockets performance is smart, blocking RCS will likely be way more unpopular. “That is unethical [and] despicable,” complains the unique Reddit poster. “I’m prepared to concede the banking apps, however stopping me from speaking is completely past the pale.”
3/1 replace: This RCS crackdown isn’t the one Android morphing in direction of iPhone evolution we have now seen this week—and the opposite appears much more blatant. It appears that evidently Google is borrowing certainly one of Apple’s flagship latest improvements for its personal gadgets, and it’s now showing on gadgets.
Google has began updating Pixel telephones with the “Satellite tv for pc SOS” characteristic that has been seen on Apple’s gadgets from iPhone 14 onward. As defined by 9to5Google, “should you dive into Settings > Security & emergency on a Pixel telephone right this moment, you’ll very doubtless see ‘Satellite tv for pc SOS’ seem between Emergency SOS and Automobile Crash Detection. Google, seemingly in an error, has rolled out the setting extensively to just about all Pixel machine by a latest replace to Adaptive Connectivity Companies.”
On iPhones, “emergency SOS through satellite tv for pc will help you join with the emergency providers below distinctive circumstances when no different technique of reaching the emergency providers can be found. In the event you name or textual content emergency providers and may’t join since you’re someplace with no cellular and Wi-Fi protection, your iPhone tries to attach you through satellite tv for pc.”
With Google, although, none of that’s but in place. The characteristic is seemingly pre-release and doesn’t but operate. However primarily based on a number of the hyperlinks being shared, it appears there could also be an optionally available search and rescue plan accessible from Garmin that works in tandem with the satellite tv for pc SOS characteristic.
All advised, a leveling up with this sort of characteristic, allied with the shared concentrate on generative AI with which Google and Samsung are rushing forward whereas Apple prepares for an iOS 18 catch-up, implies that flagship gadgets from every of those OEMs will get ever nearer and nearer in options and efficiency. And whereas satellite tv for pc SOS will likely be helpful to a small proportion of Android customers, the AI differentiation that will likely be obvious when Apple finally goes dwell will likely be way more signifiant.
This was the theme ultimately week’s Cell World Congress in Barcelona, with Apple a notable absentee. Samsung is determined to distinguish itself from the remainder of the sector with Galaxy AI—as was evident from the rebranding of Barcelona, however Apple and Google will likely be laborious to beat. That is very true given Samsung’s reliance on Google for its core OS—a minimum of for now.
For a lot of causes, 2024 appears to be like like being a yr to observe…
