RCS and green bubbles in iPhone-to-Android texts play role in Apple/DOJ battle.
The US Department of Justice is angry about green message bubbles. Announcing today’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple, US Attorney General Merrick Garland devoted a portion of his speech to the green bubbles that appear in conversations between users of iPhones and other mobile devices such as Android smartphones.
“As any iPhone user who has ever seen a green text message, or received a tiny, grainy video can attest, Apple’s anticompetitive conduct also includes making it more difficult for iPhone users to message with users of non-Apple products,” Garland said while announcing the suit that alleges Apple illegally monopolized the smartphone market.
The attorney general accused Apple of “diminishing the functionality of its own messaging app” and that of messaging apps made by third parties. “By doing so, Apple knowingly and deliberately degrades quality, privacy, and security for its users,” Garland said. “For example, if an iPhone user messages a non-iPhone user in Apple Messages, the text appears not only as a green bubble, but incorporates limited functionality.”
When messages are presented in those telltale green bubbles, “the conversation is not encrypted, videos are pixelated and grainy, and users cannot edit messages or see typing indicators,” Garland said. “As a result, iPhone users perceive rival smartphones as being lower quality because the experience of messaging friends and family who do not own iPhones is worse—even though Apple is the one responsible for breaking cross-platform messaging.”Advertisement
Garland mentioned a 2022 interview in which Apple CEO Tim Cook “was asked whether Apple would fix iPhone-to-Android messaging.” The person asking the question said, “not to make it personal, but I can’t send my mom certain videos.” Cook responded, “Buy your mom an iPhone.”
Apple touts planned RCS support
The DOJ lawsuit in US District Court for the District of New Jersey also mentions the Cook remark. The case is about more than just green bubbles and text messaging, of course. The DOJ alleges that Apple violated antitrust laws by restricting rivals’ access to iPhone features and monopolizing the smartphone market. Messaging is one of several technologies that the DOJ points to in the antitrust complaint.
Garland’s green-bubble remarks echoed complaints made by Android maker Google over the last few years. Apple today disputed the DOJ’s entire lawsuit and said the department doesn’t appear to understand how encryption in messaging works.
In a background briefing with reporters, Apple spokespeople touted the company’s recent announcement that it will support the RCS messaging standard for iMessage sometime during 2024. In order to attend Apple’s briefing and view a background document, we had to agree to paraphrase the company’s remarks instead of quoting them directly.
Apple clarified that it is not implementing RCS as it exists today because it doesn’t believe the standard offers enough privacy and security. Apple said it is working with a standards body—this is likely a reference to the GSMA—to ensure that the version of RCS it eventually implements will support encryption and strong privacy and security.
Apple said that once it adopts RCS, iPhone and non-iPhone users will be able to exchange messages with higher-resolution photos and videos, and will experience improved group texting. Apple said it hasn’t brought its own message app to non-Apple devices because the user experience wouldn’t meet the company’s standards and that it cannot ensure that a third-party device’s encryption and authentication are secure enough.
DOJ unimpressed by Apple’s RCS announcement
The DOJ’s lawsuit argues that Apple’s RCS announcement isn’t good enough:
Apple has stated that it plans to incorporate more advanced features for cross-platform messaging in Apple Messages by adopting a 2019 version of the RCS protocol… Apple has not done so yet, and regardless it would not cure Apple’s efforts to undermine third-party messaging apps because third-party messaging apps will still be prohibited from incorporating RCS just as they are prohibited from incorporating SMS. Moreover, the RCS standard will continue to improve over time, and if Apple does not support later versions of RCS, cross-platform messaging using RCS could soon be broken on iPhones anyway.
Beyond RCS and green message bubbles, the DOJ lawsuit complains about Apple’s control over app distribution, the use of APIs that allegedly undermine cross-platform technologies, and the terms of conditions imposed in contracts with developers, accessory makers, and consumers.
The API complaints relate in part to messaging, with the DOJ saying that “Apple continues to contractually restrict third parties from accessing other APIs and features that would enable cross-platform messaging apps.”
The DOJ also complains that Apple’s APIs for third-party smartwatches “do not allow users to respond to a message, accept a calendar invite, or take other actions available on Apple Watch.”
Apple points to court victory
Apple today said the DOJ complaint suggests that the agency believes Apple is obligated to design its products differently in order to help its rivals. Apple said it is not required to adopt different policies or designs for its competitors’ benefit, particularly when doing so would degrade the iPhone user experience.Advertisement
Apple pointed to a recent victory over health-app maker AliveCor, which sued Apple in the Northern District of California over restrictions on heart-rate analysis apps for the Apple Watch. Last month, a federal judge ruled that AliveCor is not entitled to an injunction that would force Apple to reinstate a discontinued algorithm for monitoring heart rhythms in the Workout Mode API.
“The Court’s role is not to analyze, indefinitely, the quality of algorithms that Apple develops for use by each individual third-party developer in order to ensure that the quality never degrades for any purpose,” US District Judge Jeffrey White wrote. “Such an order could restrain competition by discouraging companies from making product improvements that benefit consumers as a whole to the detriment of certain parties who prefer the status quo.”
Apple today also pointed to the Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling in Pacific Bell v. linkLine, which said that “Businesses are generally free to choose the parties with whom they will deal, as well as the prices, terms, and conditions of that dealing.”
In an on-the-record statement, Apple said the lawsuit “would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple—where hardware, software, and services intersect. It would also set a dangerous precedent, empowering government to take a heavy hand in designing people’s technology. We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it.”
