The good news for users of Messages, Google’s core messaging app for Android, is this end-to-end encryption is now available for group chats. This novelty, like end-to-end encryption, is of course only available via RCS (Rich Communication Services), a new generation protocol that replaces the old SMS and MMS.

In this regard, it should be remembered that RCS is truly an industry standard replace SMS (short message service or short message service) and MMS (multimedia message service or multimedia message service) in their original form, that is, it is a compatible protocol, just like the Google Messages application, but this compatibility works backwards, it is not.

In other words, Google Messages can handle traditional SMS and MMS messages, but they are not covered by features such as end-to-end encryption or client-side encryption that RCS provides. This only works if both devices use the same technology ie RCS.

For this reason, the important advancement that Google brings to its Messages application is the most used in its category, not only because it is pre-installed on many Android devices, but also because the statistics of the Google Play store indicate this. And although RCS is not a Google technology, but an industry-designed standard, the push from Google and Android is giving it prominence.

Thanks RCS Standalone mobile messaging that isn’t tied to any specific appevolves with advanced features such as group chats, advanced multimedia features or endpoint encryption, which were experimentally introduced in 2020 and rolled out to all app users a year later, now extended to most users and conversations.

RCS progress really only has one major hurdle to overcome, and that is Apple’s refusal to adopt it, as Google reminds us. The reason for the position of those on the block is simple: not to lose control for fear that an alternative would make a hole in their own messaging service, which they even refuse to bring to Android in the form of an app.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is clear: “Buy your mother an iPhone,” says the billionaire. Despite this, it looks like iMessage will arrive on Android sooner rather than later, much to the chagrin of Cupertinos. We’ll see if the regulators step in on this in the future, which they very well may.