UK carrier O2 says that Google will make RCS ‘even better than it is currently’

Ben Schoon | Oct 6 2023 - 9:23 am PT

RCS has grown massively thanks to Google’s heavy push of the standard in recent years, and Google is also the one running RCS for a lot of carriers around the globe. Announced this week, UK carrier O2 is handing over the reins on RCS to Google ahead of some potential upgrades from Google.

In a forum post, O2 reveals that it will be switching its RCS implementation on Android phones over to Google’s services. The change will take place on October 10, and customers started getting notifications about the change via SMS earlier this week.

O2 will be shutting down its own RCS implementation soon, with Google’s Jibe taking over. The carrier says there should be minimal disruption, though customers will be required to accept Google’s Terms & Services agreement when the prompt appears on their device. The change will apply to both Google Messages and customers using Samsung’s messaging app.

In the US, T-Mobile also switched to Google’s RCS in September.

But why is O2 making the change? According to the carrier, Google has plans to make RCS “even better than it is currently” and that, given other UK carriers are also using Google Jibe, will make the experience better for customers.

O2 says:

Google Jibe is already used by other UK mobile networks and the reason we’re doing this is because Google have plans for their RCS service to make it even better than it is currently, and with all UK networks using a single shared platform, the service can be developed at speed which will give customers a better service, sooner. We’re unable to do the same thing with our own RCS platform and so this is an easy decision for us as it’ll result in a better experience for our RCS users in the future.

It’s unclear what “better than it is currently” is referring to with Google’s RCS plans, but it should be interesting to find out in the future.

For customers on O2, Google will take over RCS on October 10 if you’re using Google Messages, and there could be up to five days where customers are unable to use RCS. If you’re using Samsung Messages, the change will start on November 6, and there should be almost no disruption.