Today I would like to go on a small rant and shed some light on two recent pieces of technology that don't work: RCS and Spotify Jam.
RCS
If you're American, this will come as a shock to you: the majority of people outside the United States don't use text messages, they use WhatsApp and similar services.
However, inside of the United States, the closest we have to this is Instagram DMs, and Instagram now allows you to turn Direct Messages off, so I can't even say that with confidence. Some people use Messenger, some people use Discord, some people still use Skype, but most people message each other through Messages.
The issue with this is iMessage. Apple devices can message each other in a much better way than other devices and numbers. Images and especially videos are much higher quality, you can use read receipts, you can stick stickers on messages, you can add wacky effects to your messages, you can even send games that you can play inside of messages. And don't even get me started on the group chats (not like I've ever been in one with people outside my family). Plus, you can do this without a phone number. Because of all this, along with the ugly shade of green the messages app assigns to non-iMessage users, people just don't want to talk to people who aren't using iMessage. And this is a problem, because Android users cannot use iMessage.
So, Google wanted to create a solution, so they made RCS. It has some features, such as typing indicators, read receipts, better group chats, and higher quality images. What's there not to love?
Well, now that the iPhone has support for RCS, this means that everyone has access. And a lot of problems have risen up. I would like to state that I have no idea if these problems are caused by Apple not caring, Google making a terrible protocol, or Verizon just sucking (it probably is Verizon's fault).
First off, RCS is just really slow. Messages take like 10 seconds to send sometimes. And sometimes they don't send at all, but it still tells you that the message was delivered. Plus, there are privacy concerns with Google being the creator of this protocol. But the biggest thing that got me to disable RCS for 3 months (hopefully they fix it by then) was the fact that links are just scrubbed out of messages. The other day I tried sending a Spotify Blend link to someone, and they kept saying they weren't getting it. I tried like 6 times, until I finally hit the button to force send as SMS, and then it went through. This is the dealbreaker for me.
Speaking of Spotify...
Spotify Jam
Spotify Jam Sessions (I don't know if they're called that and I don't have enough time to research) are a way to let your friends control the music using their own devices. This is a competitor to Apple's SharePlay feature. I have no idea how well that works, I've never had anybody to test it with.
So the other day, I tried joining the Jam Session for the vehicle I was in. It worked, and I was able to control everything... for about 5 minutes. After that, I experienced frequent disconnects, but it wouldn't tell you that you were disconnected unless you tried adding something to the queue. One of the times it disconnected, it cleared the queue, and just started replaying the same song over and over again until I connected again, despite that never being a given instruction.
Half the time when you do something, it doesn't even work, yet you get the feedback that the action was executed. I was honestly expecting a lot better than this, because Spotify connect is a really well implemented feature. But Jam fell short.
I just wish these companies would do more testing before releasing these products. It feels like every new feature on everything now is rushed and doesn't work majority of the time.