Beginning with RCS Group Texts, Google Messages is exploring End-to-End Encryption
But it couldn't help but poke fun at Apple for not supporting RCS.
End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) is currently being tested by Google in Messages for RCS group chats on Android. Prior to a wider release, those users who are enrolled in the Messages open beta program will receive access in the upcoming weeks. The business announced that an E2EE beta for group conversations would be accessible by the end of this year at its I/O 2022 developer conference.
The change comes 18 months after Google Messages introduced E2EE for private chats to keep talks hidden from prying eyes. Before the privacy function is made available for all group chats, it may take a few months since it began testing E2EE in Messages in November 2020.
Over the past few years, numerous carriers and phone manufacturers have embraced RCS to provide capabilities including high-quality images and videos, read receipts, and E2EE. None of those are supported by the 30-year-old SMS format. Apple, which is content to remain in the walled garden of iMessage, is the only corporation that has continued to reject RCS.
Although Google has publicly pleaded with Apple to accept RCS, so far such efforts have been unsuccessful. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, jokingly advised iOS customers in September who were having problems transmitting films to a loved one using an Android device to just buy them an iPhone.
However, Google has been working to enhance the communications compatibility between iOS and Android, and in a blog post, it made another attempt to convince Apple to support RCS. According to Messages group product manager Neena Budhiraja, "Today, all of the major mobile carriers and manufacturers have adopted RCS as the standard – with the exception of Apple. When people with iPhones message people with Android phones, Apple continues to rely on SMS, which means its texting is stuck in the 1990s.
However, several businesses are striving to find a way to make iMessage usable on other gadgets. The creators of the software Sunbird claim to have successfully ported iMessage to Android just this past week.
The adoption of RCS, a supercharged form of SMS with features like typing indicators, delivery confirmations, and read receipts, has been pushed by Google on the part of manufacturers and carriers. Additionally, it has waged campaigns to get Apple to use this standard for its own Messages program. People using Android would then be able to send their pals using iPhones rich multimedia messages with better photographs and videos.
Google didn't miss the opportunity to prod the Cupertino-based tech giant once more with the new announcement, even if Apple hasn't yet budged.
"Hopefully Apple will #GetTheMessage so we can stop waiting for the 'green-versus-blue bubble' issue to be removed. Happy birthday, SMS! Although you had a successful run and a terrific start, everyone is eager for an upgrade. With the addition of features like reaction support for iPhone SMS, Google has also attempted to unify the user experience between the two operating systems.
