Google wants end-to-end encryption on RCS group chats within Messages

Google is starting a test to make end-to-end encryption available on RCS messages within group chats in the Messages app. RCS is something that Google has been betting heavily on for some time: it’s a kind of evolution of SMS and MMS that allows you to do much more.

Rich Communication Services

Google previously made it possible to encrypt RCS messages, but now that function is extended to the group messages. At least, not yet for everyone. Initially, only the Messages beta users will be able to use it. This way the feature can be tested before it goes live for everyone.

Google revealed the news in a blog celebrating the 30th anniversary of SMS. At least, the blog is actually not in honor of SMS, because it does not celebrate so much that December 3rd was 30 years ago that a software engineer sent the first text message: it mainly wants to reflect on the future. Google says: “Texting should – and can – be even better than how it started, using RCS. RCS stands for Rich Communication Services, and it’s what almost the entire industry has adopted as the next generation of cross-platform texting.”

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Encrypted group messages

End-to-end encryption is important for security and where SMS can’t, RCS can. Soon also for groups. For example, Google states: “All one-to-one texts sent via Messages from Google are encrypted. That is so that they are private and secure and can only be seen by the sender and recipient. And now end-to-end encryption is starting to roll out for group chats.”

It will be available to some users in the open beta program in the coming weeks. In addition, Google once again indicates that there is one company that does not want RCS (Apple), something that Google has launched quite a large campaign against. Apple has stated more than once that it has no interest in supporting RCS. A shame, because RCS has the advantage, among other things, that you can make video calls, send images and receive read receipts, as you are used to from WhatsApp, for example.

The beta of Messages will therefore soon receive the same encryption in group apps as the one-to-one messages. This makes your conversations a little safer again.