Yep. Also the iMessage&SMS being in the same place makes the app very prone to spam. I have nothing more than 2FA codes and marketing spam in my iMessage app because the iMessage app is actually integrated with SMS and is called Messages.

I use facetime quite a lot though, because it works better than everything else.

At least in Germany quite a few people still pay for each SMS, so having both in the same convo is actively undesired since at least with e.g. Whatsapp there will be no surprise costs.

I guess the "problem" is that American iPhone users will either exclude non-iPhone users altogether or default to SMS rather than switching to a cross-platform messaging app, despite the deficiencies of SMS in modern communication, e.g. poor support for group chats and sending images or videos.

If "essentially no one" uses it, why does the EU feel compelled to regulate it?

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220315IP...

The link you provided does not specifically talk about imessage

"EU lawmakers agreed that the largest messaging services (such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or iMessage) will have to open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms"