Google says it has completed a global rollout of RCS and will start testing end-to-end encryption in Android Messages
In mid-2019, Google decided to take over and speed up the launch of RCS. A little over 17 months later, Google announced today that it has completed a global rollout of RCS …
9to5GoogleAbner Li
Context & Ripple Effects
This closes the loop on a project Google seized control of in mid-2019: after taking the RCS launch over from the carriers and completing a US-wide rollout of RCS in Android Messages that November, it has now finished the global rollout roughly 17 months later. The second half of the announcement — testing end-to-end encryption — is the more consequential move, because it signals Google intends to compete on privacy rather than just feature parity with SMS.
First-order effects
Android Messages users worldwide get RCS features without waiting on carrier-by-carrier deployments, and the first end-to-end encryption tests shift Google's own protocol toward iMessage-style privacy guarantees.
Second-order effects
Carriers lose their role as gatekeepers for RCS availability, while Apple faces growing pressure to close the encryption gap between iMessage and green-bubble conversations as Google's default messaging app becomes more private.
The trend: Mobile messaging is migrating from carrier-controlled SMS to platform-operated encrypted protocols, with Google's rollout-and-encrypt sequence setting the pace for RCS.
Google is testing end-to-end encryption for Android text messages. When Google revamped texting for Android last year, I asked why it didn't have E2E encryption at launch. The answer I got was, “It's a fairly complicated topic.” https://www.cnet.com/... https://blog.google/...
Since Google basically took charge of this and pushed it through (vs waiting on carriers forever), will Apple ever adopt? Would they have adopted regardless? https://9to5google.com/...
RCS is going to replace SMS. Now that carriers around the world are adopting RCS, RCS is now globally rolled out to anybody in the world on Android who wants it (sans China), and more business are trying to move to RCS for customer service.... where's Apple at on it? No comment.
This is great news. End-to-end encryption is critical to keep people safe and protect them against hackers and criminals, and it's good to see more messaging services use it. https://www.theverge.com/...
Google is rolling out end-to-end encryption for RCS is in Android Messages beta. Now we just need RCS to not be a huge pain in the ass when swapping phones. https://www.theverge.com/...
Google Chat RCS now has end-to-end encryption and is available globally. This is about as close to iMessage for Android as possible! https://blog.google/...
BAM. Finally. Yes. Good: Google is rolling out end-to-end encryption for RCS is in Android Messages beta. The global rollout of Google-provided RCS is now complete, too. Details here: https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...