RCS Stories August 31
In the midst of Hurricane Ida, I’ve found that RCS is not ready to be depended upon, while Google Messages has not thought out all the edge cases for the future.
RCS Stories July 20
Messaging has always been a tough point for Android phones compared to iPhones simply because iMessage is, put simply, very good both for its experience and its security. As Google finally solves that problem with expanded adoption of RCS with end-to-end encryption, the company is pushing for its rival, Apple, to do the same by pointing out that the current fallback method instantly drops security.
From 2022, Verizon will begin preloading Google Messages as the default SMS and RCS messaging app on all Android phones sold by the US carrier.
RCS Stories June 30
Google and AT&T announced today that the carrier would be using the Messages app and Rich Communicate Services (RCS) on all Android phones in the US.
RCS Stories April 13
After months of silence it seemed all but certain that CCMI, a project from all major US carriers to bring RCS to the masses was probably dead, but now a report seems to confirm as much. The Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative for RCS is — probably — dead.
RCS Stories December 25, 2020
Just got a new Android smartphone for the holidays? If it’s your first one it could be a little intimidating so, to get you started, here are 5 apps you should immediately install or set up on a new Android device. Alternatively, if you’re not already using these apps, it might be time to give them a shot!
RCS Stories December 16, 2020
RCS is the next big step in messaging, but carriers have delayed the transition time and time again, to the point where Google took its own step to roll out RCS to every Android phone in the world through its own app. Now, Google’s RCS rollout is expanding to a second app, Samsung Messages.
RCS Stories November 19, 2020
In mid-2019, Google decided to take over and speed up the launch of RCS. A little over 17 months later, Google announced today that it has completed a global rollout of RCS, while Messages will start testing end-to-end encryption.
RCS Stories August 24, 2020
[Update: A few more] Google Messages starts RCS rollout in several new countries
Google Messages has been rolling out RCS support to Android users across the globe and, now, users in Italy are getting in on the fun.
RCS Stories August 15, 2020
Handy Google Messages shortcut reroutes an RCS message back to SMS
As RCS continues to roll out more widely around the globe, Google is improving the feature through its Messages app. The latest feature added is a neat trick that lets you reroute an RCS message to SMS in Google Messages.
RCS Stories June 19, 2020
Google Messages makes it easy to deregister your phone number from RCS
RCS is the next big step in improving messaging on Android, but there will be some people who just don’t want it. Recently, Google opened up a form that makes it easy to disable RCS completely on Google Messages for your number by deregistering it.
RCS Stories May 29, 2020
The rollout of RCS has been slow, but as Sundar Pichai mentioned recently, it’s starting to gain momentum. This week, user reports reveal that Google is apparently rolling out RCS support to Google Messages users in India.
RCS Stories May 26, 2020
Today, the folks at APKMirror got ahold of an internal “dogfood” build of Google Messages version 6.2. Here, “dogfood” is used in the sense of the phrase “eat your own dog food,” meaning actually use the product you’re building. Of course, our APK Insight team immediately dug in to see what all is coming with the next version of Google Messages. While we’re still actively looking through the many changes found within, one in particular stood out — end-to-end encryption for RCS messages.
Update 5/26: We now have a screenshot of one of the end-to-end encryption settings pages in action.
Google’s initiative to bring RCS to every Android user has been a slow process, but it’s expanded quite a lot, even just in the past few months. Today, T-Mobile has announced a partnership with Google to bring RCS to every Android user on T-Mobile and Metro.
RCS Stories May 19, 2020
Between the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing projects, and recent reports, things are kind of a whirlwind for Google at the moment. In an interview released today, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai discussed the future of the Google Pixel lineup, progress of RCS, and how COVID-19 has been affecting Google’s business. Here’s the summary.
RCS Stories May 13, 2020
For the last few months, our APK Insight team has been tracking Google’s efforts to add emoji reactions to RCS and specifically their own Messages app. Some are now reporting that they’re able to add iMessage-like reactions to RCS messages.
RCS Stories May 7, 2020
RCS messaging has had a rocky rollout so far, but Samsung and Google are now teaming up directly to enable the rich text message service on more Galaxy phones.
RCS Stories March 20, 2020
RCS chat is Google’s latest attempt to fix the Android messaging mess, and slowly the company has been rolling out the functionality to Android users around the world. Now, Google Messages is delivering RCS to users in Spain.
RCS Stories March 5, 2020
Google has recently begun making progress toward bringing reactions to RCS, or at least their version of RCS in the Google Messages app. In the latest salvo in the petty war of blue bubble vs green bubble, Google Messages is getting ready to send some very iMessage-like reaction text messages, such as “Liked a photo.”
RCS Stories February 26, 2020
RCS is widely rolled out in the US, Mexico, UK, and France after Google took charge of the rollout last year. There are now reports this afternoon that RCS is down, with many Android users stuck on the “Connecting…” status in Google Messages.
RCS Stories February 10, 2020
Last October, a trick to enable RCS in the Messages app on any Android phone emerged. Google today announced that it will be killing “unsupported workarounds” by the end of February.
RCS Stories December 12, 2019
RCS Stories December 9, 2019
Last month, Google unveiled plans to bring RCS to all Android phones in the United States, scheduled to roll out over the following weeks. Today, a new update to Carrier Services seems to immediately enable RCS on some Android devices, including Google Pixel phones.
RCS Stories November 14, 2019
Last month, a method was discovered to force enable RCS/Chat messaging on almost any Android phone with the Google Messages app. As of this morning, this trick is no longer needed, as Google has officially launched RCS messaging in the US, bypassing carriers. Google has now explained how this RCS migration will affect those who used the unofficial trick.
How to enable RCS messaging on Google Messages for Android
RCS messaging is finally coming to Android smartphones in the United States after a trial in some other countries. If you want to get in on the action, here’s what you’ll need to do to enable RCS messaging on Android.
Earlier this year, Google took over the RCS rollout from carriers in the UK, France, and Mexico. With no market still so reliant on SMS as the US, Google today announced that it’s officially rolling out RCS in Messages stateside.
RCS Stories November 5, 2019
Despite missteps and issues, if you happen to have a Pixel 4 on Google Fi, you can now enable RCS messaging with DSDS support also added.
RCS Stories November 1, 2019
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.
RCS Stories October 26, 2019
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.
RCS Stories October 25, 2019
Here’s a shocker. All four major US carriers — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile — have just announced that they’re joining forces to deliver RCS messaging in the US for Android smartphones in 2020.
RCS Stories August 30, 2019
RCS has been in the works for a few years now, but it’s still not available for the majority of Android users. In a WIRED piece today, a Google executive explains how the RCS rollout hasn’t been sufficient while researchers try to pinpoint where the service will be headed next.
RCS Stories July 30, 2019
Since the big unveiling of its “Chat” initiative, Google has been investing heavily into RCS, even directly handling the rollout of RCS messaging in the UK and France. At one point, RCS was supposed to be deeply integrated with Android Q and made available to third-party developers, but this sadly ended up not being the case. Now Google is already looking ahead to the next version of Android and adding more RCS APIs.
RCS Stories July 27, 2019
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.
RCS Stories July 2, 2019
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.
RCS Stories July 1, 2019
RCS Chat is now live within Google Messages in just two countries — the U.K. and France. We know all about the rich communication services and how they might offer something akin to iMessage, but for Android smartphone owners.
RCS Stories June 28, 2019
The RCS revolution on Android has begun, well, at least in the UK as RCS Chat is now starting to roll out to Google Messages in the United Kingdom and France — although it comes with a few caveats. expand full story
RCS Stories June 17, 2019
With Rich Communication Services slow to proliferate around the world, Google announced today that it’s stepping in to help boost adoption. The company is specifically offering to handle RCS rollout so that individual carriers do not have to.
RCS Stories June 7, 2019
Samsung Galaxy S9, S9+ get RCS support on Verizon, but there’s a catch
The rollout of RCS messaging has been dreadfully slow to date, and also fairly unpredictable. This week, the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ on Verizon Wireless are getting RCS support.
RCS Stories May 23, 2019
The rollout of RCS messaging has been incredibly slow, and it doesn’t help that even when you have it, it can be hard to tell. In the latest update for Messages, Google has quietly added a status indicator to the app’s settings to show when you’re connected and ready for RCS messaging.
RCS Stories May 17, 2019
Android Q Beta 3 breaks RCS for some, rolling back Messages may fix it
RCS is barely available, but even for those it’s been activated for, it can easily be broken. In the latest beta for Android Q, some Pixel users are finding that RCS is broken. Thankfully, there might be a simple fix.
RCS Stories May 9, 2019
Google’s initiative to bring RCS messaging to Android phones is almost completely reliant on carriers, and that’s going just about as well as everyone thought it would. Today, T-Mobile has casually mentioned that the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a won’t support RCS messaging on its network.
RCS Stories April 15, 2019
RCS messaging extends to dual-SIM Android phones, rolling out to some users in North America
Google is putting all of its cards in messaging on RCS, but carriers are being very slow to roll it out. This past week, though, some dual-SIM Android users noticed RCS going live on their devices in North America.
RCS Stories March 26, 2019
Last year, a change to Chrome OS revealed that Messages for Web would be transitioning from Android.com to Google.com. This lined up with the recent transition from the “Android Messages” name to simply “Messages.” Today, a slightly updated version of Messages for Web with RCS settings has gone live on Google.com.
RCS Stories February 22, 2019
Last month, we covered the strong possibility of Android Q providing new APIs for RCS messaging to third-party app developers, based on some evidence in Android code. It appears that Google’s plans may have changed in the intervening month, according to a new commit.
RCS Stories January 7, 2019
With last year’s announcement of the “Chat” initiative, it became clear that Google would be working to make RCS the best possible messaging product for everyone. Staying true to that commitment, it seems Android Q may bring RCS capabilities to third-party apps with new system APIs.
RCS Stories December 7, 2018
Over the past week, the narrative around Google’s messaging and communication services has been defined by a spate of planned deprecations — both of which 9to5Google first reported about. While older services will be “sunset,” the company’s vision for consumers hasn’t changed much since earlier this year, revolving around RCS “Chat” and Google Duo video calling.
However, complicating this dual-service future now is the newly-revealed fact that the enterprise-focused Hangouts Chat and Meet will also be available to consumers, and that Google Voice is still an active service. This is just the latest in Google’s tangled and sometimes incoherent strategy for simply saying “Hello.”
RCS Stories December 6, 2018
Last month, it emerged that Verizon was planning to launch Universal Profile RCS early next year. The Google-backed messaging standard is now set to officially begin rolling out on December 6th for the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL.
RCS Stories November 16, 2018
Universal Profile RCS might launch on Verizon in early 2019
When Google earlier this year detailed that its future consumer messaging effort would be centered around RCS and Messages, AT&T and Verizon also signaled that it would adopt the Universal Profile. The latter carrier might be launching support early next year.
