For RCS Group Texts, Google Messages has Begun Testing End-To-End Encryption

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It couldn’t help but poke fun at Apple for not supporting RCS.

For RCS Group Texts, Google Messages has Begun Testing End-To-End Encryption _

Google is testing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in Messages for RCS group chats on Android. Before a wider rollout, some users who have signed up for the Messages open beta program will receive access in the upcoming weeks. The business announced that an E2EE beta for group chats would be available by the end of this year during its I/O 2022 developer conference.

The change comes 18 months after Google Messages introduced E2EE for private chats to keep conversations hidden from prying eyes. Before the privacy feature is made available for all group chats, it may take a few months since it began testing E2EE in Messages in November 2020.

Screenshot of a group chats in Google Messages that is end-to-end encrypted.

For RCS Group Texts, Google Messages has Begun Testing End-To-End Encryption_

Over the past few years, numerous carriers and phone manufacturers have embraced RCS to provide features like high-quality photos 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 company that has continued to reject RCS.

Even though Google has been publicly pleading with Apple to use RCS, nothing has come of it. In September, Apple CEO Tim Cook jokingly advised iOS users to purchase an iPhone for a loved one who was having trouble sending videos to them via an Android device.

For RCS Group Texts, Google Messages has Begun Testing End-To-End Encryption_

However, Google has been working to enhance messaging compatibility between iOS and Android. In a blog post, it made another attempt to convince Apple to support RCS. Apple is the only significant mobile carrier and manufacturer that has yet to adopt RCS as the standard, according to Messages group product manager Neena Budhiraja. When people with iPhones message people with Android phones, Apple continues to rely on SMS, which means their texting is stuck in the 1990s.

However, some businesses are working on solutions to enable iMessage on other devices. The creators of the app Sunbird claim to have successfully ported iMessage to Android just this past week.

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