SMS/MMS has really low file size limits, and iPhones may downscale a little more aggressively than required.
Just pick an internet based messaging service. I like Signal, but they all work.
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
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The next version of iOS should add support for RCS which should allow for cross platform larger images as well.
Welcome to 2008, apple
To be far, apple has had iMessage since 2011 and no one cared about RCS until it was adopted on Android in 2019.
To be additionally fair, Android still has phones out there in use that still dont have the RCS feature, and never will because those phones are no longer supported.
Because imessage is proprietary and apple is against it being publicly available and a standard.
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RCS from what I can tell still has some significant limitations, like the version common on Android having some Google proprietary extensions it's not clear if other vendors will fully support. I'd still recommend something like Signal to most people, though RCS improves the experience for those not using that.
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Its due to compression of the video in order to fit on a MMS message, which is very small. Android uses RCS as a new message standard that can send bigger files but Apple has yet to add it to their OS. Its similar to how Apple uses iMessage to do the same, however this is not a standard and is locked to only apple devices.
Apple is supposedly adding support for RCS during the new iOS update but until then you can use a different messaging app to send better/larger files.
I recommend Signal as it is easy to sign up and start using while also being private.
+1 for Signal. I converted everyone in my friends and family circle to it ..except one person, but I just ignore their texts.
+1 signal fills the gap perfectly
I like and use signal, but of course the problem is convincing someone else to start using it in order to send you a message.
I'd hope that's not terribly hard when the people in question are married to each other.
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So many people asking me to have my wife do something different on her end. Beloved, she is on iPhone because she doesnβt want to do anything βweird.β
Assuming using a third-party messaging app is "weird", then she can't send you video with acceptable quality. That's how it is.
She can't fix that. You can't fix that. None of the readers here can fix that unless they work at Apple. This may improve in the future when Apple adopts RCS, but there's a lot that real-world implementations of RCS do that isn't in the standard, so the full details of interoperability are uncertain until we see it in the wild.
Now, why canβt I get iMessage on my android phone?
Because Apple doesn't want you to. Apple wants situations like this one to pressure people to buy iPhones because that's apparently easier for some people than agreeing on a messaging app.
Anything over MMS gets compressed insane amounts.
I have an iPhone and whenever my Android-owning friend sends me something, itβs a tiny thumbnail of a photo. So yeah, goes both ways.
The trick is to send a link to the photo or video instead of the actual file. This is also how iPhone users can use FaceTime with people on other platforms.
That wouldn't be an issue today if Apple had started supporting RCS, the replacement for the old SMS/MMS system years ago like every Android phone. Instead of trying to strangle it by acting like iMessage on iOS was the only solution.
RCS has been around since 2008 and got Universal Profile specifications in 2016.
It took Google until 2019 to get RCS out, and they include proprietary Google extensions that may or may not be supported by other providers, further complicating rollout of RCS.
They're genuinely not somehow way better in this regard.
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It's because Apple has refused to adopt new messaging standards like RCS (not that Google is doing that much of a better job), but it's purposefully broken interoperability to force people into buying into product ecosystems (iPhone vs. Android) to make you stick with one and get stuck on it.
It's stupid anti-competitive and I freakin' hate it.
Literally doesn't have to be this way, it's a choice (mostly by Apple, but once again doesn't mean Google is better).
https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/15/24178470/apple-rcs-support-wwdc-announcement-android-imessage
Apple was largely forced to support RCS in response to the mounting pressure from global regulators and competing companies. That may help explain the somewhat disgruntled approach to announcing its rollout in iOS 18.
https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to-switch-on-rcs-messaging-in-ios-18
Here's a walkthrough to ensure RCS is enabled on your wife's iPhone, once iOS 18 drops in the next month or so.
A lot of RCS is using Google Jibe, itβs one of the ways they were able to roll it out so fast not necessarily with carrier support. I canβt fault them too much for not immediately embracing it. Based on the Toms Hardware link it looks like they are depending on carrier hubs. For me that means I may not get support for a long time as an MVNO user.
The Google proprietary extensions in their implementation of RCS is honestly pretty crappy imho as well. Neither of these companies are "good guys" in terms of RCS standards.
Ah, so Google is taking the Microsoft approach to embrace and extend, but don't share. Gross.
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Don't forget to add in the primary reason they don't want to implement it is exactly because of comment's like OPs, because it makes it look like Android phones are the problem. Most people assume that it's because it's an android it doesn't work right, and so everyone should just have iPhones. Why fix what is already great marketing for them, even if it is a complete lie?
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The real reason: Apple intentionally doesn't support the open protocols that send pics and videos to non-Apple devices. These protocols are a decade old and work great. They use a proprietary protocol instead, which they will not share with other phone manufacturers.
What the average iPhone user thinks: Apple is better than Android!
It's pretty dumb.
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You both use Signal, problem solved.
Me and my wife do this and its pretty much the only person we talk to on there.
Its got some nice features to keep track of images and such. I was surprised she went for it really, usually 99% of the ideas I mention to her get turned down lol
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The answer is as others have stated appl not supporting the open standard RCS.
I will elaborate with apple are deliberately dragging their feet supporting standards as a deliberate attempt to put social pressure on you to buy an iphone.
an audience member asked Apple CEO Tim Cook for some tech support. βI canβt send my mom certain videos,β he said; she used an Android device, which means she can't access Appleβs iMessage. Cookβs now-infamous response: βBuy your mom an iPhone.β
The Apple Antitrust Case and the βStigmaβ of the Green Bubble
The solutions others have suggested of installing other messaging apps like signal will work but I will suggest another; Buy your wife an Android.
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Why are you still using sms in 2024?....
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.
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Apple doesn't do RCS. This should be changing soon, but for now you should be using another messaging app, because everything you send is unencrypted and shittier quality
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Apple isn't doing everything it can to optimize the quality of videos iPhones send or receive over MMS. Video quality between Android phones, even over MMS, is much better.
Sending multimedia via traditional text messaging uses the MMS service, which is ideal for very low resolution images, like sub megabyte, I didn't even know it could support videos! Wild.
I suggest you add her on something like Discord, or WhatsApp, LINE, whatever works for you, and send each other multimedia that way :-)
Also depending on your provider you may incur lower costs and faster load times, too.
signal is the way
You'll need a third party messaging app. Like Signal or WhatsApp.
Send the video over a messenger instead?
I think everyone has explained the how and why, but not any real solutions that don't involve using a completely different application. I don't have an iPhone in front of me, but with Android you can share as a link to Google Photos instead of sending the picture/video directly. I am pretty sure you can do something similar with iCloud. Have her try the share as iCloud link instead.
Update: I just tested it. I had them open up Photos, go to the image/video, tap the share button, and then if you scroll down a tiny bit there is a share as iCloud link. I was able to view it just fine on my Android phone.
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Keep a stock message on your phone to cut and paste whenever an iPhone user sends you a potato-quality video. This is mine:
Please don't send video to me via iMessage from your iPhone. In fact, you really shouldn't send video via iMessage at all. Video sent by Apple looks terrible on non-iOS phones. This is not a shortcoming of other phones, this is entirely Apple's fault and is their explicit intention. If you want to send a video from your iPhone, you can open the Photos app, tap the share button, and select "share as an iCloud link". That will enable All users to view your glorious video of your cat/kids/dinner/vacation/rant/whatever in the high resolution that your overpriced phone is capable of. Another option is to send the video using a messaging app such as Signal or WhatsApp. Alternate messaging apps are what most of the world use in lieu of sms/mms text messaging.
This is a form letter response and you will get it every time you send me video from your iPhone via iMessage.
P.S. I love you
What a great way to let your friends and loved ones know you are insufferable to deal with and will drop a rant on them about your minor inconveniences at every opportunity.
Hey, it worked! They stopped sending him videos in low res. In fact they stopped sending him videos all together.
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