Michael Anderson, a tech marketing consultant in San Francisco, considers himself an unapologetic Android person. It is one thing that might come up fairly a bit in his love life.

When he was single and utilizing courting apps, discussing the colour of his messages with potential dates who had iPhones turned a well-known and irksome ritual.

“We get off the app and take the massive step of moving into the textual content messages, and the primary textual content I might get, not on a regular basis, however definitely quite a few occasions was, ‘Oh, your bubble,'” mentioned 33-year-old Anderson, referring to the inexperienced bubble texts that iPhone customers see when messaging his Android.

For some singles, Anderson factors out, inexperienced bubbles are a deal breaker.

“I’ve heard of associates who really acquired ghosted due to that,” he mentioned. “And also you would not need to go on a date with these sort of individuals anyway, but it surely’s actually pervasive.”

Anderson is now engaged. His fiancée is, regardless of all of it, an iPhone person.

As anybody who has skilled the blue-green divide is aware of, the bubble tradition wars contain greater than only a carping over coloration variations.

When somebody with an Android texts an iMessage person, the standard of pictures and movies is shoddy; you may’t do stay location monitoring; you may’t react to texts the identical approach; these suspense-building bouncing ellipses indicating somebody is writing don’t exist; and the dialog is much less safe. To high it off, inexperienced bubbles result in mockery.

Some have dubbed this phenomenon “inexperienced bubble shaming.”

And whereas it may appear frivolous, the bubble difficulty turned far more critical final week, when it was cited by the Justice Division for example of how Apple allegedly abuses its energy.

DOJ says inexperienced bubbles are tied to anti-competitive habits

U.S. authorities declare Apple intentionally makes texting on iMessage irritating for Android customers in an effort to nudge individuals to purchase iPhones. Apple denies this declare.

“Apple affirmatively undermines the standard of rival smartphones,” the Justice Division alleges in its lawsuit towards Apple, which provides that the recognition of iPhones was fueled not simply by the standard of the product “however as a result of it has made speaking with different smartphones worse.”

Whereas some Android customers are embarrassed by the inexperienced bubbles, others, like Anju Gupta, who works for NASA in Washington, D.C., view them as a badge of honor.

“I’ve undoubtedly by no means felt any disgrace,” mentioned Gupta, 37. “If something, I have been fairly defiantly an Android person.”

Gupta has, nevertheless, exacted some mild revenge when individuals have referred to as her out over the pesky inexperienced bubbles.

“In group chats, the place individuals complain and might be like, ‘Oh my god we now have an Android person,’ I will be tremendous obnoxious and simply begin liking each single message in order that approach it blows up everybody’s telephones,” she mentioned.

After lengthy resisting, Apple commits to adjustments

Apple has lengthy defended the inexperienced bubbles by saying the colours present folks that Apple’s messages are encrypted on iPhones and Android messages are usually not.

However late final 12 months, Apple made an about-face. It mentioned Android customers will quickly have the ability to talk extra fluidly on iMessage, although the inexperienced bubbles will stay.

For years, the cell phone business has been shifting from brief message service, often known as SMS, to one thing referred to as RCS, a brand new messaging commonplace that Google and different corporations have already adopted.

It permits for group chatting, high-resolution pictures and movies and message encryption. However Apple has lengthy dismissed RCS in favor of its personal proprietary messaging system, iMessage, arguing that any messaging system exterior of the Apple ecosystem may put iPhone customers’ safety and privateness in danger.

Amid strain from European regulators and the Justice Division, nevertheless, Apple in November agreed to help RCS.

“RCS will fortunately carry plenty of long-missing options to these inexperienced bubble conversations in Messages,” wrote the Digital Frontier Basis, a digital rights group. The group notes that precisely how Apple intends to encrypt RCS texting stays unclear.

Apple mentioned RCS won’t be changing iMessage, however somewhat it’ll incorporate the messaging system utilized by Androids in order that location-sharing, typing indicators, reads receipts, group chats and high-quality pictures and movies might be shared throughout rival units.

Apple has not dedicated to a timeline past stating it might begin adopting RCS a while in 2024.

Anderson in San Francisco welcomes the adjustments, however he’s irritated it has taken this lengthy.

“It nonetheless appears like we’re on the whims of those massive firms who’re deciding whether or not or not I can ‘coronary heart’ a textual content from my fiancée,” Anderson mentioned. “It is a foolish downside that’s completely avoidable,” he mentioned. “I might be extra doubtless to purchase an iPhone if Apple was much less hostile.”

However, Anderson provides, his Android identification might be exhausting to dislodge.