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[return to "I asked Signal motivations for SMS removal"]
1. apexal+Lb[view] [source] 2022-10-19 09:00:14
>>quenti+(OP)
I think you're forgetting the main reason: the group of people using it to communicate is really small and shrinking every year.

The only large group of people who still primarily use SMS to communicate person-to-person is Android users in the USA.

Every other country has settled on either Telegram, WeChat, WhatsApp or FB Messenger, or other niche apps. These apps work on both iOS and Android and often also Windows. I haven't sent an SMS in probably 12 years. I don't know anyone who has.

It's only in the US that iMessage is so prevalent that Android users have to use SMS, the only other way of messaging iOS devices. And the US is quickly becoming a de-facto iOS only country. It already has more than 50% market share, even 80% among young people.

With the US going (almost) full iMessage and the rest of the world having already settled on another app there simply no point to supporting SMS.

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2. modo_m+8c[view] [source] 2022-10-19 09:04:41
>>apexal+Lb
SMS is still rather common here in Europe. Even if a ton of people use whatsapp and such SMS is often a safe option to initiate with or something trough which you get certain kinds of automated messages like appointment reminders or verification codes.
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3. pmontr+AG[view] [source] 2022-10-19 12:47:17
>>modo_m+8c
I send maybe one SMS per year, not every year, when I think a person could be offline or in low signal areas. SMSes get where data don't.

I receive dozens of SMSes from banks with one time passwords for 2FA and payments notifications, from delivery companies to notify me about progresses in my orders plus some spam. It's easier for them to use SMS than anything else because every phone receives SMS right out of the box.

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