... my 16 year old daughter comes home from school and basketball practice, saying she "needs" to get an iPhone, since "all the girls on the team have iPhones" and they are using some Apple messaging platform to communicate. Of course I threw the BS flag on her since (1) how likely would it be that all 12 girls on the team have iPhones, and (2) even if true, why in the heck would Apple not want its customers interacting with people using Android, Windows, and other OS phones, and (3), even if 1 and 2 were true, maybe she will get a little more homework done. Natch, I am now the bad guy. And it appears that #2 may even be true. WTF Apple? So desperate for hanging onto market share that you paint a wall around your customers???
Apple messaging platform? Which one? Group messaging isn't only iOS. More than likely they're all using Snapchat, Tumblr, instagram, or twitter.
There's a decent chance that all the other girls do have iPhones. But iMessage is simply text messaging that adds a few extra features when sent between iOS devices. Possibly a big deal to a teenage girl, but not something that would prevent her from texting with her friends. Even if they do have iPhones and use iMessage.
iMessage is good to have because it uses wifi to communicate instead of your phone plan. It's available on most Apple devices. Buy her a iPad mini and laugh in her face because you found a loophole.
iMessage sends messages to other phones too. It just won't be "free," it will be a regular text message when going to other platforms. Android has the same thing with Hangouts. Quit ruining your daughter's life.
Because teenagers think only poor people have windows and android. It's the same argument with kids bringing sack lunches or eating food from the cafeteria. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SSCzDykng4g?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
1) Knowing kids nowadays, it's probably true. 2) You can text like normal, but people prefer to use the built-in app called iMessaging which is only between apple devices. It's easy and works on wifi instead of using messaging data (I think). That is probably just an excuse to get the iPhone since there is regular texting or other applications that involve every device. 3) Don't see how a phone correlates to working on homework. Just my 2 cents
The problem is that when a group chat contains 10 or more people, it doesn't work properly if one person doesn't have an iPhone. I don't know why--it seems like an easy solution--but it doesn't. There are, however, other group messaging services that work perfectly fine like GroupMe or WhatsApp.
Do you not want her to get a phone at all, or just don't want her to get an iphone? Does she have a different phone already? They could find a different way to message together if she had to have a different phone because of her dad's aversion... she'd just have to explain and they'd have to use something like skype or twitter or one of the other billion ways to communicate that bridge across phone os's. Not sure what apple message service they'd be using that is exclusive besides imessage through normal texting, which is just text messaging but doesn't count on your bill if you are communicating with others who have imessage-able phones. Maybe there is another one I don't know about that is apple exclusive but I don't know of one. Also, anyone who says "Natch" is probably the bad guy by default. I'm spitballing here... nothing personal.
She may be using an older android system. I have a android 4.4 kit kat and dont have an issue with group mms including iphones. A friend of mine has an android with 4.2 and cant group message even with other androids. Maybe that'll help you and her situations.
^ Good questions from CrazyDave... and... it's not an iPhone issue. I didn't know about GroupMe. Thanks, RickSmith. I am texting back and forth every day or so with a group of five other dudes in a Fantasy League in which all of us have iPhones except two dudes. The message bubbles are green for all of us, because one of them doesn't have the latest Android stuff, but we're all still in the group calls. There has to be a setting, I believe, that may stop someone from continuing to reply-to-all in a group texting session.
Why do kids even have cell phones? I can't blame apple for exploiting parents who give their kids cell phones. When I wanted a cell phone as a kid, I got a job.
OK, after the boilover about Apple is passed... so if I get her to install some group messaging system (eg GroupMe) on her GS3 that the Apple-using teammates can also load onto their POS phones then there will be peace in the valley? I can see why a wifi "free messaging" app is important to these girls... they spend all their waking hours sending texts and SnapChats to each other. I suspect Apple offers this as a way for girls to get away from messaging limits. Rat astards. btw, I think she uses the stock messaging app and not Hangouts (the one I use). I am pretty sure that Hangouts also works on Apple (reckon Google wants interplatform interaction). btw, I have an ancient iPhone collecting the dust somewhere. Suspect its so old it can't run this messaging app. The iPad mini idea would be good but she already has a Nexus 7.
If it were up to me and setting rules in schools, I'd outlaw them completely, but even now, teachers are encouraging the use of the phones to search for things while in school, using the calculator, etc. Besides, it's peace of mind when they are looking for a ride, need to notify us where they are, etc. Apple isn't explointing anyone. Also, it was a lot more expensive to pay for group phones when you and I "were kids" and we had to pay for them, and there wasn't such a high demand and supply... or competitive prices. My $.02.
She has a 1.5 year old Samsung GS3. And up to today wanted a GS5 when the contract ran out in 6 months. Ouch... didn't take it personally...