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Yes, of course. Every iPhone can switch of iMessage if desired.

Yes but they cannot do it per group. Or per message.

It depends on whether or not those iPhone users have turned off iMessage out of some misguided sense of protocol purity. If some but not all have it turned off, their experience will be similar to an android user in a chat with iMessage users (ie, terrible).

If everyone has it turned off, it is just the normal group SMS experience (also terrible). SMS group chat isn't gone, you just very rarely see it because there is almost no reason for an Apple user to disable iMessage.

I guess I am talking to apple fanboys here. Effectively all group messages with iPhone users get switched to iMessage. Unless they have opted out. Which nobody does.

You have to opt in to iMessage.

This is also no different to everyone in a group who can use WhatsApp or a similar app using that.

SMS is the lowest common denominator fallback. RCS is not much better.

Why would this matter?