A hack that enabled Rich Communication Services on any Android phone and carrier emerged last weekend. According to reports over the past 24 hours, the RCS trick has stopped working for some users.
This has been a big week for Rich Communicator Services with the four largest U.S. carriers announcing (a Google-less) plan to roll out the SMS/MMS successor. Today, a trick has emerged that appears to enable RCS on any Android device and carrier.
Have you ever gotten a text message but didn’t quite feel like responding right away, then in the course of your day you end up forgetting that message altogether? It certainly happens to me more than I care to admit. The latest Google Messages beta, version 5.2, brings reminders so you don’t forget to message your loved ones back, along with a fun little easter egg.
RCS may be nowhere to be found, but Google is still working on updates to its useful Messages app on Android. This week, it’s been revealed that Google Messages is preparing a new spam filter and more.
Google’s Messages for web client now features integration with Google Duo. Recently rolled out, this matches functionality in the Android app, and allows you to quickly place a call from a text conversation.
While Google Messages adopted a dark theme relatively early on, its implementation did not match other first-party applications. With the latest beta, Google’s default SMS/RCS client now respects the Android 10 dark theme.
Over the years, Google Messages has become more than just a text messaging app, as Google has used it to help push RCS features to new regions. However, some of the more useful features have been buried in somewhat messy menus. To help with this, Google Messages is trying out a new UI that makes the ability to record and send voice messages far easier to use.
As we wait for Google’s RCS chat initiative to continue its rollout in more countries, Google has confirmed this weekend that the messaging option has been fully rolled out to Android users in both the UK and France.
Carriers have completely botched Google’s plans for RCS messaging, so the company has taken over with its own approach. However, some carriers are still delivering the functionality, with some Google Messages users on Visible, Xfinity Mobile, and Simple Mobile reporting RCS working on their devices.
