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Google Chat vs iMessage
March 10, 2025 | Author: Adam Levine
12★
Google Chat is a communication service developed for teams and business environments, but also available for general consumers as chat in GMail and mobile app.
8★
iMessage lets you send messages back and forth with anyone on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, or a Mac. If you’re a texter, you’ll love Messages on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Now they all come with iMessage, a service that’s an even better kind of texting. Because it’s free for you and anyone texting over Wi-Fi using an iOS device or Mac with iMessage.
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if two tech giants decided to create messaging apps and let them have a chat, you’d find that Google Chat and iMessage have quite a bit in common. They both let you send messages, group messages even and share media like images, videos and the occasional voice note (which probably sounds suspiciously like a conversation with a robot). They’re also remarkably good at keeping your conversations encrypted, syncing everything across devices and just generally being places to leave all the things you’ll never actually read again.
Google Chat, though, is rather more suited to the office – it’s all about the workplace, collaboration and making sure everyone knows how to use Google Docs without a meltdown. Launched in 2020, it’s part of Google’s grand plan to organize everything under the sun and if you use Google Workspace, well, you’re probably already in it, whether you like it or not. It works fine on Android and iOS, but let’s be honest, it feels like it was made for Android and it doesn’t seem to mind whether you’re in Timbuktu or Tbilisi – Google’s got your back globally.
Now, iMessage, on the other hand, is a bit like an exclusive club where the velvet ropes are made of Apple devices. Launched in 2011, it’s the secret sauce that makes owning an iPhone feel like being part of a well-curated ecosystem. It’s fantastic for sending messages and knowing exactly where everyone’s going to be in the Apple universe, but should you find yourself temporarily stranded on a non-Apple device, it’ll just fall back to good old SMS. But be warned – iMessage only operates in the lands where Apple dares to tread, which is just about everywhere you can buy an iPhone.
See also: Top 10 Business Messaging platforms
Google Chat, though, is rather more suited to the office – it’s all about the workplace, collaboration and making sure everyone knows how to use Google Docs without a meltdown. Launched in 2020, it’s part of Google’s grand plan to organize everything under the sun and if you use Google Workspace, well, you’re probably already in it, whether you like it or not. It works fine on Android and iOS, but let’s be honest, it feels like it was made for Android and it doesn’t seem to mind whether you’re in Timbuktu or Tbilisi – Google’s got your back globally.
Now, iMessage, on the other hand, is a bit like an exclusive club where the velvet ropes are made of Apple devices. Launched in 2011, it’s the secret sauce that makes owning an iPhone feel like being part of a well-curated ecosystem. It’s fantastic for sending messages and knowing exactly where everyone’s going to be in the Apple universe, but should you find yourself temporarily stranded on a non-Apple device, it’ll just fall back to good old SMS. But be warned – iMessage only operates in the lands where Apple dares to tread, which is just about everywhere you can buy an iPhone.
See also: Top 10 Business Messaging platforms
