ROYAL IQ MESSAGING ON HARMONY OF THE SEAS

[Charles4515]

It only works on Harmony because up to a couple weeks ago Harmony was using the Roysl IQ.
 
They  just haven’t gotten around to closing the hole in the firewall.

Why did they have to allow iMessage when they were using the Royal IQ app? There must have been a networking reason.

They should allow iMessage and the like instead of adding texting to the Royal App.

The Royal app is pretty much crap except for checking ones folio. Very unintuitive.


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[Ourusualbeach]

39 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Why did they have to allow iMessage when they were using the Royal IQ app? There must have been a networking reason.

They should allow iMessage and the like instead of adding texting to the Royal App.

The Royal app is pretty much crap except for checking ones folio. Very unintuitive.


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I’m pretty sure that they didn’t intentionally allow I messaging on the Royal IQ app, it was just a byproduct of the app itself.  Who knows, that may be one reason that they switched to the Royal app and abandoned Royal IQ.

[Biker19]

9 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Why did they have to allow iMessage when they were using the Royal IQ app? There must have been a networking reason.

Very likely the texting option within the Royal IQ app needed the same port iMessage uses open to function.

[hallux]

That "hole" in the firewall has been around for a while.  I believe it's the same hole that allowed us to use Google's Hangouts to communicate while on Anthem last year.  Actually - now that I think about it iMessage was also working, a colleague that was on Anthem in Feb. last year noted that when we were discussing the trips (I went in April).  I realize it's a different ship but I would think they'd have the same policies/configurations to a point.

 

Of course - that was a year ago, I suppose it could have been patched since then but it's another option to try.  As indicated - turn on airplane mode then enable WiFi and connect to the WiFi.

Edited January 26, 2019 by hallux

[Biker19]

Just now, hallux said:

That "hole" in the firewall has been around for a while.  I believe it's the same hole that allowed us to use Google's Hangouts to communicate while on Anthem last year. 

That has been around since the Royal IQ app and on those ships, much more traffic besides iMessage and Hangouts gets through without a VOOM package.

[hallux]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

That has been around since the Royal IQ app and on those ships, much more traffic besides iMessage and Hangouts gets through without a VOOM package.

You're right!  Thinking about it, I was able to get some baseball highlights videos  served through YouTube.  I never paid for internet.

 

I'm one of those that can "afford" to disconnect.  I haven't paid for internet on either of my previous cruises, and don't plan to on my upcoming one, but my cell service will work in all ports at not additional charge.

[Charles4515]

You're right!  Thinking about it, I was able to get some baseball highlights videos  served through YouTube.  I never paid for internet.

 

I'm one of those that can "afford" to disconnect.  I haven't paid for internet on either of my previous cruises, and don't plan to on my upcoming one, but my cell service will work in all ports at not additional charge.

 

On port intensive sailings I don’t buy the ships internet. I use my cell service in the ports with $10 a day passes. My plan includes Mexico and Canada so on most sailings I don’t need the ships internet. On Harmony with only three ports I did buy Voom but it was on sale, I paid about $80 for unlimited and Royals prices are much more reasonable than other cruise lines. On Celebrity for example I won’t buy their wifi, it costs three times as much. We had a group of about 17 on Harmony and only three bought the Wi-Fi. Most did not need full internet during the cruise. Since 15 had iPhones and only 2 had Android texting others on the same sailing with iMessage who didn’t buy internet was very handy with a group. If they had texting in the Royal App that would be sufficient too. But the Royal App on Harmony did not have texting.

 

 

 

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[Charles4515]

Very likely the texting option within the Royal IQ app needed the same port iMessage uses open to function.

As I understand it they plan to add a texting option to the Royal App? Might that not need the same port?


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[Clarea]

6 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

As I understand it they plan to add a texting option to the Royal App? Might that not need the same port?
 

 

 

Might not need any special ports open to the internet if the texting server is hosted onboard the ship.

[Charles4515]

 
Might not need any special ports open to the internet if the texting server is hosted onboard the ship.

I was just thinking about that. The new app could use a texting intranet server on the ship. The old apps service might have been outsourced, connected to a server that requires the same port as iMessage. Never used the Royal IQ app but from the description it sounded very like the NCL connect app and on those ships iMessage could be used without buying a package.


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[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

As I understand it they plan to add a texting option to the Royal App? Might that not need the same port?

 

I have not seen any reports of any internet traffic without VOOM on Allure which has the texting option enabled.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

On port intensive sailings I don’t buy the ships internet. I use my cell service in the ports with $10 a day passes.

 

My plan has international coverage included, I just have to pay per minute for calls and per GB for data.  Since I don't plan on using more than $10 in phone calls it's a decent deal...

[Charles4515]

30 minutes ago, hallux said:

 

My plan has international coverage included, I just have to pay per minute for calls and per GB for data.  Since I don't plan on using more than $10 in phone calls it's a decent deal...

 

My plan has unlimited voice, data, text and I am used to using the Maps app to get around in ports. Used a lot of data in Copenhagen and Venice using Maps app. On a ship texting is handy since I often travel with friends who are in different cabins all over the ship. So having a text option without having to buy internet is handy as many don't web surf while sailing and don't need a whole data package. The iMessage loophole was handy but cross platform texting in the Royal app between passengers that worked would actually be better as while most have had iPhones a few of my friends do not. I will stress that it has to work. On NCL the texting in their app did not work very well. We had good service with the iMessage loophole on Harmony and on NCL. But rarely have we been on ships that had that loophole so we don't expect it to be there on future cruises.

Edited January 26, 2019 by Charles4515

[h20skibum]

We were on Harmony for the last cruise that had IQ, before they switched to the Royal app.   We had bought the text and phone option using IQ, since those we were traveling with did not have iPhones.  I think we paid something like $8 for the entire cruise for that option.

 

The calling feature never did work the entire cruise.  You could place a call to the other party, but they never could hear you.   As for the texting feature, you had to have the app open and check it to see any texts.  There were no text alerts.

 

I hope the one they have on Allure works better, and hopefully they will roll it out to the other ships soon.   I miss the iPhone loophole.

[vankalker]

We just got off Harmony and got iMessages and even some regular text messages and phone calls while using Royal's WiFi in airplane mode. We do have WiFi assist on, so I'm thinking it just used the WiFi to connect. We switched our two phones back and forth on the cheap Zoom plan, though, so I'm not sure if the texts and calls were on the free or just the paid WiFi.

[Ourusualbeach]

On 1/26/2019 at 12:05 PM, h20skibum said:

We were on Harmony for the last cruise that had IQ, before they switched to the Royal app.   We had bought the text and phone option using IQ, since those we were traveling with did not have iPhones.  I think we paid something like $8 for the entire cruise for that option.

 

The calling feature never did work the entire cruise.  You could place a call to the other party, but they never could hear you.   As for the texting feature, you had to have the app open and check it to see any texts.  There were no text alerts.

 

I hope the one they have on Allure works better, and hopefully they will roll it out to the other ships soon.   I miss the iPhone loophole.

The app worked fairly well for us on Allure at Christmas.  No voice option but the texting worked and you did receive notification that you ad received a text.  Even if your phone was off once you turned it on you received notification.