The term “green bubbles” is used when referring to SMS messages that are sent and received between an iPhone and a non-iPhone. But beyond the literal meaning, it really refers to the stigma of not using the most popular communication app for your social circle.

I saw a remark online that Japan is immune to the green bubble / blue bubble debacle entirely, but I think the more accurate way to look at it is that LINE is the most popular communication method. In Japan, LINE is the “blue bubble,” and everything else is the “green bubble.” You won’t be ostracized for not using LINE, but it is expected—just like WhatsApp in Europe.

There’s a huge disconnect when you meet anyone that doesn’t have or use the same communication app you do. When your only option to reach someone is through an app you rarely use, you’ll rarely reach out.

SMS exists on all cell phones. It’s not just a built-in app, it’s a built-in service through your telecom provider. It’s default functionality on a network level. Therefore, it is a great fallback from RCS or iMessage. LINE, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, and Signal do not function this way. If you don’t use one of those services, there’s no fallback. iMessage isn’t lock-in, but the others absolutely are.

Not everyone has cell service, so SMS is not universal. But for most users of the aforementioned apps, it’s still a widely available fallback. It’s just not a fallback offered—or made available to—these other apps.

Hyper-regionally, in individual social circles, there are fewer run-ins with incompatibility. But on a larger scale, matching up your social circles with the communication app of the region can feel like a burden.

To be sure, LINE is not a great app. It’s fine—like the rest of them. With complete market saturation, LINE doesn’t need to improve. LINE is an unchallenged monopoly, and it can exert monopolistic power by stagnating or even worsening its services. Though there are many alternative forms of communication, when an app like LINE or WhatsApp reaches de facto saturation in the market, I think it needs to be regulated.

I believe communication apps should be interoperable. (And so too should social networking services.) I understand there are difficulties with doing that, but they could all provide a base level of interoperability not unlike iMessage having an SMS fallback. If each communication app was interoperable but had extra features when all users in a chat share the same platform, I think that is much more reasonable competitive field to be playing in.

These companies should compete on the merits of their respective approaches to the problem. Users shouldn’t feel forced to pick the same app everyone else has or risk being left out of the conversation. That removes their individual choice. That is a result of monopolistic power. The relative popularity of any communication app should not be the reason any person has to be locked into it too.

Chat apps should win users with quality, not dominance. It should be a choice, not a consequence of coercion.

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