A new ad from WhatsApp reunites several members of the Modern Family TV show to take a dig at the green bubbles vs. blue bubbles dilemma that iPhone users face when texting Android devices. The ad brings back the characters Claire and Phil Dunphy, along with Mitchell Pritchett and his husband Cameron Tucker. Although iOS and Android aren’t directly mentioned, in the video clip, we learn that the family has a group chat. The only problem is that not everyone, specifically Mitchell, has access to the chat due to his “new phone.”“That’s weird, I don’t see it. You started a family chat without me? SHAME!” Mitchell then says. “Look, it’s not you. It’s just your new phone,” Cameron says in response, a sign that Mitchell is using an Android phone. As a result, Mitchell’s device can only text iPhones using the older SMS, MMS standards, which can cause “blurry photos” and “weird likes,” as Claire says in the ad.
On iPhones, texts from Android devices also appear in green chat bubbles, rather than blue — which has sparked debates, a green bubble stigma, and efforts to circumvent Apple’s control over iMessage. But rather than force all the Modern Family characters to use iPhones, the ad offers a solution to the debacle: Why not use WhatApp, which runs on both Android and iOS. “You know if your group has different phones, just use WhatsApp,” interjects a random handyman during the ad. “It’s seamless and private.”WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook’s parent Meta, has also been promoting the ad on social media, tweeting, “cross device friction is real, IYKYK (If you know, you know), good thing we exist.”
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WhatsApp head Will Cathcart added: “WhatsApp is growing quickly in the US because people want a private and secure way to text and call across iPhone and Android. No one likes the green blue divide and the Modern Family cast is helping us spread the word.”That said, Apple itself is responding to the green vs. blue bubble issue. Later this year, the company will finally support Rich Communication Services (RCS) in iOS 18. This means Android users will be able to text iPhones over a modern communication standard that supports higher-quality media, larger file sizes and even encryption. But on the downside, Apple says texts received from Android phones using RCS will still pop up as green, instead of blue.
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