Overview
In the world of smartphones, iPhone and Android users appear to live in different bubbles. Well, at least different-colored bubbles. When iPhone users send text messages to fellow iPhone users, Apple’s iconic blue text message bubbles appear. But when sent from any other smartphone, such as Google’s devices that run the Android operating system, those bubbles appear green.
The color difference in text messages between iPhone and Android users has become a subject of pop culture humor, with memes suggesting that iPhone users look down on those with green-bubbled texts. Even reputable outlets like the Wall Street Journal have claimed that such an effect exists.
To investigate whether this claim actually holds true, we conducted an experiment to test whether those green bubbles actually affect one’s image.
The Experiment
We recruited 400 people from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to take part in a survey, which we actually designed as an experiment. Participants were presented with a screenshot of text messages from a hypothetical acquaintance named Michael, only the color of the text message bubbles in the reply was randomized. Half of the participants saw blue bubbles (indicating an iPhone user) and the other half saw green bubbles (indicating an Android user).
After reading the texts, participants were asked “How much do you like this person? (1 = Not at all, 7 = Extremely)” and responded using a 1-7 scale. Finally, participants completed a demographic survey, which allowed us to test whether the results differ based on gender, age, or actual usage of an iPhone or Android phone.
Results
Contrary to the pop culture stereotype, our experiment revealed no significant difference in likability between iPhone users (avg. = 4.74) and Android users (avg. = 4.72), (p = 0.886). The results were unchanged when considering only participants who use an iPhone in real life, a difference of 0.02 on a 1-7 scale for our 133 iPhone users (p = 0.937). Furthermore, we found no interactions between these results and participants' gender or age.
Conclusion
The results of this experiment debunk the notion that green-bubbled texts negatively affect how iPhone users perceive Android users. So, if you're an Android user, rest assured that your choice of smartphone is unlikely to affect how likable you are.
While this experiment focused on text message bubble colors, our next study will delve into whether using a Mac or PC can influence perceptions of sophistication.
Methods Note
We used an independent samples t-test to test for differences in likability between our iPhone and Android conditions. A small p-value (less than 0.05) indicates a statistically significant difference. To explore potential interactions with participant demographics, we utilized OLS regression analyses with interaction terms. The data and survey materials used for this experiment are available upon request.