Google has finally completed the global rollout of its RCS-based messaging service as the company announces the achievement of this milestone on Thursday. From November 19 onwards, Google’s RCS is available worldwide, and the tech giant is working on adding end-to-end encryption soon. This means that everyone around the world using Messages now has access to modern chat features — either from their mobile carrier or directly from Google. For end-to-end encryption, the company will start rolling it out for beta testers later this month.
RCS or Rich Communication Services is a new messaging standard that enables modern chat features like typing indicators, higher quality media, reactions, group chats, and more. Google has built this chat feature right into the Messages app, and the new update brings them to all over the world.
Google RCS and End-to-end Encryption
According to Google, the global rollout of its RCS chat is complete and will now be available in every country. Integrated into Messages by Google, the app lets you send texts, start a video call from your conversation, send messages from the web, or use other features like Smart Reply. Google says that it has worked with the device makers for the past few years on various carrier networks in different countries to provide these RCS-based chat features in Messages. However, one of the major drawbacks with this was the lack of encryption. But now, Google is fixing that as it’s planning to roll out end-to-end encryption for one-to-one chat this month.
End-to-end encryption is a security feature in a messaging service that encrypts all data flow between two ends. It ensures that no one in between reads the content of a conversation. Google is also working on adding end-to-end encryption to Messages so that no one, including Google and third parties, can read the messages. As said before, beta testers will get this feature starting this month and will continue into next year. To ensure that the chats are end-to-end encrypted, both the users should have the Messages app installed and chat features turned on.
