Edit: NOTE, I am the receiver of the texts.
So many people asking me to have my wife do something different on her end.
Beloved, she is on iPhone because she doesn’t want to do anything “weird.” She is texting from her phone number using her texting app. That’s what’s going to happen.
Now, why can’t I get iMessage on my android phone? If it’s just a messenger app why not make it available for Android?
I’d use it.
Why are you still using sms in 2024?..
OP probably lives in North America, where texting never got displaced by messenger apps. Well, except for iMessage, but that’s a messenger app hidden behind a texting app, with confusing quirks like the terrible video quality OP reports.
Don’t worry, Google’s own Messages app does the same thing as iMessage, but using a different (and on paper more open) standard that isn’t compatible with iMessage (yet, I think the EU is forcing Apple’s hand).
The EU actually ruled that iMessage isn’t a gatekeeper because it’s not used enough to be considered important for now. I do believe China is forcing phones to be RCS compliant though, so it’s still mostly about government pressure.
the only reason Android was locked out of imessage was Apple, the only reason rcs is locked out of ios is Apple. it’s all Apple trying to keep the wall around its garden.
I’m not OP but I might as well be. My family has a group chat that exists almost exclusively to send pics/videos of the kids to each other. It’s a mixed group of android/iOS, so the videos come through with 12 pixels. I have begged and pleaded for every key to switch to telegram, GroupMe, Gchat, Facebook… ANYTHING!!
But they’re all on iPhone because they specifically don’t want to be tweaking or customizing anything in their phones.
I fixed this, tell the grandmother, I’ll only send the pictures etc via signal.
Set it up for her, put it on the home screen.
The grandmother (my Mom) is probably the 2nd most tech-savy person in the chat. She has dug in on this on my sister’s side. It’s not a huge deal. I’ve accepted that I just need to wait till the defaults change. Any video I really care about I make her send straight to my wife.