7 WhatsApp features that show how badly iMessage needs to catch up

Apple should supercharge iMessage with these brilliant ideas.

- BY MAHMOUD ITANI

What I really love about smartphones is the extensive app catalog, which lets users try to pick between a wide range of options. If you don't like how a certain application works, you can typically find solid alternatives in the same category that better match your expectations. However, this generally doesn't apply to social media and communication apps, as the network effect locks us into the platforms our contacts use.

In many regions, WhatsApp has become the default instant messaging service, connecting billions of users to their friends and family members, and even some businesses. Despite that, some people, including myself, still rely on iMessage for a number of reasons, such as concerns over Meta’s privacy practices. Nevertheless, when I text my friends on iMessage, I can’t help but notice how bare-bones the experience feels. Here are seven WhatsApp features that iMessage needs right now:

1. ENHANCED ROAMING EXPERIENCE

My biggest annoyance with iMessage is how fragile and high-maintenance the service can be when roaming. The moment you eject your physical SIM card or turn off the eSIM, your phone number gets deregistered from iMessage. This downgrades all of your chats to SMS (as most international carriers haven’t adopted RCS yet) and incurs fees when you're chatting with friends abroad.

To avoid this, you could either expose and use your Apple Account’s email address as the iMessage ID or register the new SIM card's foreign number on iMessage. Both routes are far from ideal, especially the latter, which requires your contacts to become aware of and save a new number whenever you travel. While newer iPhones with dual-SIM support make this problem more manageable, there are still instances when it causes a headache.