Ask Jerry: How do messaging apps use my phone's data connection?

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So many messaging apps

P asks:

I am using an iPhone 14 Pro. I send a Signal text to an Android phone, it shows a blue bubble like an iMessage. Does this use my data?

If I send an iMessage to the same Android phone, it shows a green bubble. Am I using my data?

Thank you.

Nothing on our phones is as confusing (and ever-changing) as messaging. There are plenty of apps, Apple and Android do it differently, and in most of the world everyone is just using WhatsApp . With Apple focusing on supporting the RCS standard, it seems like everyone is talking about messaging but none of the companies involved take the time to make it simple.

Your questions are great, and I think a lot of folks wonder about the same things, especially if they aren't using an unlimited data plan. I'll answer them really quickly, and then we can explain it further.

Signal and iMessage (the official iOS messaging app) have nothing to do with each other. If you send a Signal message to someone with an Android phone using the Signal app, it's more like using Facebook Messenger than the iMessage app. The bubble is blue because Signal is simply using the color blue for them.

Sending a message with the Signal app uses your data connection or your Wi-Fi.

When you use the iMessage app to send a "regular" message to an Android phone, it's not being sent as an iMessage; it gets sent as an old-style SMS text (for now). In the iMessage app, SMS messages are shown in green.

Sending a message like this doesn't count against your data, but it does count against any limit on SMS your plan might have.

How messaging apps handle my monthly data

A lot of this confusion with Signal is because, as late as last year, Android users of the Signal app could use it to replace their SMS app . All texts and Signal messages went through the same app, with Signal messages being encrypted and having a richer connection to better send photos or other media.

I used Signal this way until the app was changed, and it is no longer a candidate for Android's default messages app. Yes, if you have a lot of messages, the only way you can quickly figure out what is what is by the bubble color.

I still use Signal as my messaging app of choice with the other people I talk to, but they need to use the Signal app, too. It's not a bad idea to have a fully encrypted and open-sourced messenger that is regularly checked by security professionals to ensure its quality.

Of course, it's more convenient to just use Google Messages/iMessage (or WhatsApp) because that's what your friends use.

The Apple Messages app is changing, too. The coming version of iOS is going to support what is known as RCS messaging . This is the new messaging standard put forth by the same people who governed SMS and it's something almost every phone carrier in the world supports at some level.

Apple's RCS isn't going to be like Google's RCS, though, because Google was an early adopter of the protocol and had to add its own "stuff" onto it to make it better. Google's RCS platform supports just about everything iMessage does, including end-to-end encryption. The current RCS standard doesn't have that built-in just yet, but I expect it will soon.

It also appears that RCS messages on iPhones will still use green bubbles , though, which will probably make things still a little confusing for some.

Nowadays, it doesn't matter as much what messaging app you use because they all support the same types of features. It didn't used to be that way which is why apps like Signal gained popularity.

There will always be plenty of messaging platforms and each will say they are the best. Choice is great and we can pick the one that we like.