I have two Yale Zwave locks that are at least 11 years old and still kicking. The key factor to this is the non reliance on the cloud.

Zigbee, Zwave, Esphome and other non-cloud will always work longer than any cloud based solution that is at risk of being shutdown, use a outdated or no longer available app, become a subscription, etc.

I agree with you that they should be required by law to open their code and unlock the devices but I doubt this will happen any time soon.

Mine are there too!

To answer the last part of your post:

So far my experience is that the RCS-iMessage feature is working (or not) depending on the Apple user’s provider. I’m on Android with a “cheap” provider in Canada and RCS-iMessage work with my iMessage contacts that are on major providers but those on cheaper providers don’t work yet.

So if you are on Android and your basic RCS works you should be good.