android instant messaging

romperstomper

I'm in ireland, my brother is in canada and neither of use 3rd party messaging like signal/whatsapp.

what are the google solutions around instant messaging? we are looking for something that you get pre-installed on android phones as he is not tech savy

NIMAN

I don't know of any Google based instant messaging, but why would you both not download WhatsApp?

It's very easy to do, even for non tech savvy people.

Edit : I just googled " Google alternative to WhatsApp" and I see there is something called Google Messages. I've been using Android for ever, and have never seen this app, so would assume you'd have to download that as well.

romperstomper

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.dynamite&hl=en_IE&gl=US

google chat?

NIMAN

Never heard of Google Chat, it's not on my phone. So you'd have to download it anyway.

And if you are savvy enough to go to the Play Store and download something, I don't know why you wouldn't just download WhatsApp considering it's the most popular instant messaging app and other contacts on your phone probably use it too.

28064212

Use Whatsapp. Google's messaging systems are unintuitive and fragmented (Meet? Chat? Messages? Hangouts? Anybody remember Google Wave? Is Duo still a thing?). No-one uses them.

It takes far less tech ability to download Whatsapp and use it than it does to use Google's messaging systems

You could use RCS messaging but it’s no more straight forward that using an app.

If you don’t like Meta and WhatsApp consider Signal.

I wouldn’t see Google as having any great advantages. It’s a commercial data miner.

I can see why people make an argument in favour of iMessage on iPhones as Apple basically uses it as a tool to sell an expensive hardware ecosystem. They’ve no motive to sell your data, but there’s no equivalent default instant messager from Google. You’d be better off to use a secure third party messenger.

Pratts2000

I moved to SMS.To a while back because it keeps things simple and works well for text messaging. I’ve had fewer bugs than I did with stock Android apps. Notifications are reliable, and it doesn’t feel bloated like some of the others I’ve tried.