Rumors claim iOS 15 could upgrade iMessage into a social media network, but how? Here’s what Apple could learn from other messaging apps that have already taken the social media plunge.
While we wait for the sizeable iOS 14.5 update, details about the even bigger iOS 15 update expected toward the end of the year have leaked in a Bloomberg report, which suggested that Apple is working on iMessage upgrades that will make it more of a social network to compete with global messaging platforms like WhatsApp. iMessage is still superior to other messaging apps in some categories – most notably security given its end-to-end encryption and back-end improvements continually made through iOS 14, as Forbes explained. iMessage also works pretty well across Apple’s device ecosystem, with message synchronization and interactions possible on screens great and small. So what could Apple learn from rival messaging services? There are obvious answers, like bringing iMessage to Android – something Apple has resisted for the better part of a decade, new evidence has shown. Extending it to another mobile operating system could be seen as losing a unique feature to iPhones and iPads. But the less obvious changes could revolve around the ‘social media’ direction Bloomberg reported – a direction that many messaging services evolved into, like WhatsApp, Line, and others. Here are the big ways iMessage could likewise evolve from a robust messaging service to something much more. When we say ‘social media,’ we don’t necessarily anticipate iMessage to go full Facebook – but given how aspects of social media have crept into other messaging services, it makes sense for Apple’s to finally follow suit. While most messaging apps tick off some basic ‘social media’ requirements to exchange messages, photos, and videos directly with other users, some have added other ways of public sharing and expression.
