Messages (application)

Messages is an instant messaging software application developed by Apple Inc. for its OS X, iOS and watchOS operating systems.

The desktop Messages application replaced iChat as the native OS X instant messaging client with the release of OS X Mountain Lion in July 2012.[1] While it inherits the majority of iChat's features, Messages also brings support for iMessage, Apple's messaging service for iOS, as well as FaceTime integration.

The mobile version of Messages on iOS used on iPhone and iPad also supports SMS and MMS due to replacing the older text messaging Text app since iOS 3. Users can tell the difference between a message via SMS and one sent over iMessage as the bubbles will appear either green (SMS) or blue (iMessage).

iOS version

Messages (iOS)
Developer(s) Apple Inc.
Initial release June 29, 2007 (2007-06-29) (as SMS)
Stable release iOS 9.3 / March 21, 2016 (2016-03-21)
Development status Active
Operating system iOS
Type Instant messenger
License Proprietary

iPhone OS 3

Apple released Messages for the iPhone as a built-in application with iPhone OS 3.0 on June 17, 2009.[2] It replaced the Text application which had been the native messaging application since the iPhone’s inception. The change in name was due to the iPhone gaining native support for the MMS protocol, in addition to the previously available SMS protocol.[3] Even though the iPhone 3G, the newly released iPhone 3GS, and the original iPhone all received the OS 3.0 update, the original iPhone was left out of support for MMS, citing hardware challenges.[3] Messages also gained support for sharing contacts using the vCard standard. Other big changes included support for copy and paste, and the ability to forward or delete multiple messages at a time.[4]

iOS 4

With the release of iPhone OS 4.0 (name later changed to iOS 4.0) in 2010,[5] Messages received a minor upgrade. Among the new features was the ability to search within text messages, much like the search feature in Mail. It also added support for displaying a character count to notify when one had gone over the standard SMS character limit. iOS 4.0 also included support for a red exclamation mark to appear on the app’s icon to warn failure to send a message.[6][7] Developers were provided with a new API that allowed them to add embedded messaging functionality to their apps.[7]

iOS 5

The iPad and the iPod touch gained support for Messages with the release of iOS 5.0[8] on October 12, 2011.[9] Unlike the iPhone, which now supported SMS, MMS and iMessage, the iPad and iPod touch only supported Apple’s iMessage protocol. With iMessage, users with iOS 5 could now send text, picture messages and contacts over WiFi or 3G to other iOS 5 devices without using their carrier quota. In addition, a user could start their conversation on one device and continue on another. Messages also introduced typing indication, delivery and read receipts for iMessage.[8][10] With the introduction of Notification Center, new SMS, MMS or iMessages could now be seen on lock screen or by pulling down the Notification Center.

iOS 6

iOS 6 helped improve syncing between multiple devices. iPod touch and iPad users could now use their iPhone phone numbers to send or receive iMessages.[11] Earlier, iPhone users could not receive iMessages sent to their phone number on their iPad or iPod touch. In addition, users could now add additional emails to receive and send messages on any device.[12] All these settings are accessible in the Settings application under the Messages tab. iOS 6 also added a Share button on apps like Safari and Photos, which enabled users to share links and photos using SMS/MMS or iMessage without leaving the app.[13]

iOS 7

In iOS 7, Messages received a new user interface. Apple also allowed users to see message post date by swiping messages view from right to left.

iOS 8

Users can send audio and video messages by holding down the record button. In group conversations, users can remove/add someone to a thread, name a thread, share their location in a thread, view all attachments, and turn on Do Not Disturb to not receive notifications from a specific thread.[14]

As a part of the new continuity feature, users can now use their iPhones as a relay to send and receive SMS and MMS messages on their Macs and iPads.

OS X version

Messages (OS X)
Developer(s) Apple Inc.
Stable release 9.2 / March 21, 2016 (2016-03-21)
Development status Active
Operating system OS X
Type Instant messaging
License Proprietary
Website www.apple.com/osx/whats-new/features.html#messages

10.8 Mountain Lion

Messages was announced for OS X as a beta application on February 16, 2012[15] for Macs running Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion". It was released in conjunction with a developer preview to Apple’s then to-be-released OS, Mountain Lion (10.8). The beta was discontinued on December 12, 2012,[16] just over 3 months after the release of Mountain Lion.

The full-version of Messages for OS X was released on July 25, 2012 and included with Mountain Lion.[17] Messages replaced iChat, the default IM client since Mac OS X 10.2. In addition to supporting Apple’s new iMessage protocol, Messages on OS X retained its support for AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk and Jabber.[18] Messages unitizes the newly added Notification Center to notify of incoming messages. The introduction of a new Share button[19] in applications like Safari, Finder and Preview gave users the ability to share links to webpages, photos or files. Messages also supported dragging and dropping files or photos for sharing. Messages also supports video calling through Apple’s FaceTime and the third-party IM services it supports.[20]

With the release of 10.8.2, Messages on OS X gained the ability to send and receive iMessages using an iPhone phone number.[21]

10.9 Mavericks

Messages receive some improvements and refinements to the app.

10.10 Yosemite

In Yosemite, the app has been redesigned to look like the app in iOS 7 and 8. As a part of the new Continuity feature, users will now be able to send and receive SMS and MMS messages through their iPhones running iOS 8.

The possibility to reopen previous conversations has been removed.

Embedded control of font size and character format within sent messages has been removed.[22]

Reception

Praise

As a headlining feature in iOS 5, Messages was widely reviewed and was met with fairly positive reviews.

Dante Cesa from Engadget, in his review, praised the “brilliance” in Apple's execution of Messages. He complimented the way Messages did not change the earlier SMS UI and would automatically convert an SMS/MMS to iMessage if the recipient was registered; and from iMessage to SMS/MMS if they stopped using the service.[23] Dan Moren from Macworld was also in praise of Apple execution saying that “...there’s no having to explain to your less technically savvy friends how they can send you a free message instead of an SMS; it’s all done automatically.”[24] This feature was widely praised.[25][26][27]

AnandTech praised[25] Apple’s technical achievements with Messages, particularly with iMessage. They noted that doing away with SMS’s character limits (140 or 160) helped eliminate messages being sent and received split up into two or more messages. In their tests they found that Apple actually prioritized using cellular networks to send text messages as opposed to WiFi networks in spite of possibly incurring data costs. They claimed that data usage with text based iMessage was small enough to ignore especially when it is considered that cellular networks are more secure than WiFi (protected or not). With picture or video messages, Apple prioritized WiFi given the much higher data consumption as compared to text.

Criticism

Most of the criticism for Messages relates to iMessage. Before the release of iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), the inability to receive iMessages sent to one’s iPhone phone number on the iPad, iPod touch or Mac was criticized.[27][28][29] This feature was addressed in iOS 6 for iPhones, iPads and iPod touches and OS X 10.8.2 for Macs.

Messages also came under fire due to multiple cases of Apple’s iCloud service going down. Messages relies on iCloud to send and receive iMessages.[30][31][32][33]

Accessibility

Apple’s iOS and Mac OS platforms have been widely praised for their accessibility features. Using Apple’s VoiceOver screen reader (on both iOS and Mac OS), visually impaired users can tap on a message and have it be read out to them. They can also navigate the Messages UI using Voice Over. Utilizing Siri with Messages enables one to dictate and send messages with just a few commands. Siri is also able to read out new incoming messages.[34] The default font size on iOS Messages is editable under the Accessibility tab in the Settings application.[35]

References

  1. ↑ AppleInsider Staff (February 16, 2012). "Apple Unveils Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Coming this Summer". AppleInsider. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  2. ↑ Ben Parr (June 16, 2009). "iPhone OS 3.0 Released: What You Should Know". Mashable. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Apple Previews Developer Beta of iPhone OS 3.0" (Press release). Apple Inc. March 17, 2009. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  4. ↑ Peter Cohen (March 17, 2009). "Cut and paste, MMS highlight iPhone 3.0 improvements". Macworld. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Apple Previews iPhone OS 4" (Press release). Apple Inc. April 8, 2010. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  6. ↑ Jason Chen, Rosa Golijan (June 20, 2010). "The Complete Guide to Using iOS 4". Gizmodo. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Rene Ritchie (June 14, 2010). "iOS 4 walkthrough". iMore. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  8. 1 2 "New Version of iOS Includes Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, Twitter Integration Among 200 New Features" (Press release). Apple Inc. June 6, 2011. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  9. ↑ Dave Smith (October 10, 2011). "Apple iOS 5 Release: A Guide to the 200 New Features". International Business Times. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  10. ↑ Jason Parker (October 12, 2011). "Apple iOS 5 review: Modest, but definitely worthwhile". CNET. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  11. ↑ Nathan Ingraham (June 11, 2012). "iOS 6 unifies your Apple ID and phone number for improved iMessage and Facetime support". The Verge. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  12. ↑ Glenn Fleishman (November 9, 2012). "How to set up your addresses in Messages". Macworld. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  13. ↑ Lex Friedman (September 20, 2012). "Hands on with iOS 6: Social and sharing". Macworld. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
  14. ↑ Rossignol, Joe (2 June 2014). "iOS 8 improves messaging on iMessage". iDownloadBlog. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  15. ↑ Tim Stevens (February 16, 2012). "Messages Beta now available for Mac OS X Lion". Engadget. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  16. ↑ Eric Abent (November 16, 2012). "Apple officially killing Messages beta for Lion users next month". Slashgear. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  17. ↑ Chris Welch (July 24, 2012). "Apple announces OS X Mountain Lion will be released on Wednesday". The Verge. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  18. ↑ John Siracusa (July 25, 2012). "OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion: the Ars Technica review". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  19. ↑ Dan Moren (July 25, 2012). "Up close with Mountain Lion: Sharing". Macworld. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  20. ↑ Alvaris Falcon. "A Look Into: Messages – New IChat For Mac OS X Mountain Lion". Hongkiat. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  21. ↑ Glenn Fleishman (September 19, 2012). "Use Your iPhone’s Number with Messages in OS X 10.8.2". TidBITS. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  22. ↑ http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/customize-messages-font-yosemite/
  23. ↑ Dante Cesa (October 12, 2011). "iOS 5 review". Engadget. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  24. ↑ Dan Moren (October 12, 2011). "iOS 5 Review: Ambitious update rings in the changes". Macworld. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  25. 1 2 Vivek Gowri, Andrew Cunningham, Saumitra Bhagwat & Brian Klug (October 18, 2011). "Apple iOS 5 Review". AnandTech. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  26. ↑ Chris Hall (October 14, 2011). "Apple iOS 5 review". Pocket-lint. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  27. 1 2 Jacqui Cheng (October 12, 2011). "iOS 5 reviewed: Notifications, iMessages, and iCloud, oh my!". AnandTech. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  28. ↑ Mark Crump (October 12, 2011). "iOS 5: iMessage". Gigaom. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  29. ↑ Nilay Patel (July 25, 2012). "OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion review". The Verge. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  30. ↑ T. C. Sottek (November 18, 2012). "Apple iMessage and FaceTime down for users on iOS and OS X". The Verge. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  31. ↑ Gregory Gomer (October 25, 2012). "iMessage Outage: iMessage is Down for Apple Users [Report]". BostInno. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  32. ↑ Gregory Gomer (October 30, 2012). "iMessage is Down AGAIN for Apple Users, Second Time in a Week [Report & Cute Photos]". BostInno. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  33. ↑ Gregory Gomer (November 18, 2012). "iMessage Outage: iMessage is Down AGAIN for Apple Users [Report & Cute Photos]". BostInno. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  34. ↑ "Apple - Accessibility - Vision - iPhone". Apple Inc. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
  35. ↑ Austin Krause (October 8, 2012). "How to Increase the Font Size in iOS". groovyPost. Retrieved February 12, 2013.
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