IPhone users who use iMessage as their main messaging platform will not download another app just to text, unless they know a significant # of people on there. If they do use my number, I receive it in my Messages app as an SMS text, and then I just reply to that person from AirMessage so that it moves the thread over for them, so not a big deal. If anyone wants to send me a new iMessage, they have to use my Apple ID email address instead of my phone #, but aside from that, it’s not really a bother for them. AirMessage allows me to actually stay in the group (they didn’t have to remove my number and add my Apple ID, it did it on its own). When I switched to Android for my phone in 2021, I saw that it was breaking me out of the groups, or downgrading them to SMS message for everyone. This includes several group chats that I’m in. I am coming from an all-Apple-hardware lineup and all of my friends and family use iOS, so we always used iMessage.

They provide easy to follow step by step directions, and you only have to do it once. Setting AirMessage up on the Mac took just under 10 minutes as well, so it’s not like some crazy configuration or anything. I have an iMac that is always on anyway, so having to have a Mac stay on all the time wasn’t an issue for me. There seems to be some confusion about how AirMessage works and why anyone would go through the trouble to use it, so I just wanted to share my experience with it.

How to use imessage on android reddit