the imessage functionality is, anyway I havent seen SMS ever used in practice in the last 10 years with the exception of “verify phone number” for account creation
That doesn’t qualify an SMS app as bloatware. It’s still considered a standard feature of a phone.
The fact that it has enhanced features is beside the point. Google’s has web sync (as in, you can message in a browser). This doesn’t make it bloatware either. It’s the system texting app. It’s a bona fide part of the communication suite.
Texting is bloatware now? Flip phones came with the ability to text.
iMessage is just a service tacked on for enhanced messaging, but the app itself is just the texting app.
the imessage functionality is, anyway I havent seen SMS ever used in practice in the last 10 years with the exception of “verify phone number” for account creation
That doesn’t qualify an SMS app as bloatware. It’s still considered a standard feature of a phone.
The fact that it has enhanced features is beside the point. Google’s has web sync (as in, you can message in a browser). This doesn’t make it bloatware either. It’s the system texting app. It’s a bona fide part of the communication suite.