In Apple’s iMessage, traditional SMS text messages are presented with a green background, while messages sent and received through traffic are presented with a blue background. Citing the Wall Street Journal report, it is precise because of this blue-green distinction, as well as Apple’s unique features, that teens switch from Android to the iPhone camp.
The use of blue and green is no longer an indicator of different types of information, it’s also a hint: showing that users not only own an iPhone but also take advantage of features that aren’t available on other platforms. In the report, American teens are particularly sensitive to the blues and greens, and say not having an iPhone and seeing green messages seems like a negative sign to them.
Michigan student Adele Lowitz told the Wall Street Journal that she first noticed a difference in status when she was trying to use an Android device, prompting a member of her texting group to ask “Who Is it green?”. Lowitz then found that group chats didn’t work as seamlessly as she did with her iPhone, and it also caused problems for FaceTime calls and apps for finding friends.
Lowitz said: “In my college circle, and in high school and college circles, most people have iPhones and use a lot of iPhone-specific features. Considering that Apple has effectively used its features to build a social network, she felt there was ‘some kind of pressure to go back to this state'”.
Lowitz had to use an Android device for a paid study, but she soon switched back to an iPhone. “There’s so much in Apple’s network that I can’t switch,” she said. A friend was reportedly relieved to be “back in the blue” with her return.
University of Florida senior Miles Franklin is an avid Android user. In 2020, he switched to an iPhone, in part because he likes to use it to create TikTok videos. Jocelyn Maher, a master’s student in New York, said she said potential suitors would be laughed at by friends and sisters on dates if they used Android. “I was like, oh my gosh, his texts were green and my sister was just saying ‘uh, that’s disgusting,'” Maher said.