AT&T switching to Google’s Jibe platform for RCS

Abner Li | Jun 9 2023 - 3:34 pm PT

While AT&T announced that it would use Google’s Messages app for RCS in June of 2021, the carrier maintained its own backend. That’s now changing with AT&T switching over to Google’s Jibe platform for RCS.

SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer announced this afternoon that Google is “working with AT&T to accelerate adoption of the RCS standard and that AT&T’s default Android messaging will now be via the Jibe platform.”

Previously, the US carrier leveraged its own backend. AT&T customers complain about this setup, with send/receive errors occasionally occurring. Those issues should now be resolved.

The “Jibe Cloud” lets carriers “easily launch and manage RCS services with Google-hosted infrastructure” rather than hosting it on their own servers. The other aspect of Google’s offering is the “Jibe Hub” to allow interoperability between third-party RCS networks.

Lockheimer said this change will allow AT&T customers to “get the latest RCS features instantly.”

In Messages > Settings > RCS chats, at the bottom of the page, you can find who is providing your service (most of the time):

Back in February, Vodafone made a similar switch to Jibe, while T-Mobile in the US also leverages Google’s solution on some devices.

Google announced at I/O in May that RCS has 800 million monthly active users and that it expects the figure to hit 1 billion by year’s end. The company also detailed a neat integration where travelers can check in and save boarding passes to Google Wallet through the Messages app. Of course, this requires the airline or train service to support RCS:

We will begin rolling this out with Vietnam Airlines and Renfe, Spain’s leading train operator. Similarly, restaurants can use reservation systems like TagMe to send reservation details to their customers that can be saved to the Wallet for future use.