You told us: You definitely wouldn't pay for iMessage on Android

Apple recently announced that RCS was coming to iMessage in 2024, opening the door to much-improved texting between Android phones and iPhones.

Would you pay for full-fledged iMessage on Android, though? We posed this question to you in a poll a few days ago, and here’s what you told us.

Would you pay for iMessage on Android?

Results

This was a very popular poll, with almost 4,000 votes tallied as of writing. The winner? Well, a massive ~77% of respondents said they wouldn’t pay for iMessage on Android. By comparison, just ~23% of polled readers said they’d pay for the service on Google-powered devices.

Drilling down even further, ~72% of North American respondents said they wouldn’t pay for iMessage on Android phones compared to ~28% of North Americans who said they would.

Meanwhile, a massive ~93% of surveyed readers outside North America said they wouldn’t pay for Apple’s messaging service on Android. Yep, just ~7% of polled readers in the rest of the world said they’d pay for Apple’s IM app. It’s no surprise to see respondents outside North America being opposed to this proposition given the popularity of Android and other messaging apps in the rest of the world.

Nevertheless, we hope  Apple’s embrace of RCS makes for a more modern texting experience between Android and iOS and results in a drop in green bubble bullying.

Comments

• Patrick Berg: If I wanted iMessage I’d get an iPhone. I use Android and want neither of the aforementioned.
• realhonesty: Being classified as a “Green bubble” only convinced me to stick with Samsung. I’m not going to change what I like just to fit in. If you don’t like me how I am, then do us both a favor and leave me on read.
• bridgeotto: Ew. Why would I want to pay for a messaging service?
• cbn4forums: Why would I pay for this? I live in North America and use WhatsApp as my main messaging App and if I need to message people who don’t use it it’s fine with me, I will use SMS and won’t care about the color of the bubbles.
• jonzey231: A couple years ago, yes. All my friends and family have since switched to Signal though. Too little too late for RCS, Tim Apple.
• eszklar: I’ve used BlueBubbles, Sunbird and Beeper for iMessges on Android. Haven’t paid a thing so far as Sunbird/Beeper are still testing. It really would depend on the pricing model, say $3.99 USD/month or so.