Google Is Finally Taking Charge of the RCS Rollout (theverge.com) 40
Google is finally taking charge of the RCS rollout by allowing Android users in the UK and France to opt in to RCS Chat services provided directly by Google instead of waiting for their carrier to support it, which is largely the reason why it hasn't been more widely adopted. Google says that it will release the services to more countries "throughout the year," but wouldn't commit to saying that it would be available in all regions by the end of the year. The Verge reports: That seems like yet another minor status check-in on the service meant to replace SMS, but in fact it's a huge shift in strategy: as Google rolls this offering out to more countries, it should eventually mean that RCS will become universally available for all Android users. For the first time in years, Google will directly offer a better default texting experience to Android users instead of waiting for cellphone carriers to do it. It's not quite the Google equivalent of an iMessage service for Android users, but it's close. Not knowing when or if RCS Chat would be available for your phone was RCS's second biggest problem, and Google is fixing it.
RCS's biggest problem is that messages are still not end-to-end encrypted. iMessage, WhatsApp, and Signal are secured in that way, and even Facebook has said it will make all its apps encrypted by default. Google's chat solution is increasingly looking out of touch -- even immoral. But there is hope on that front as well. The product management director overseeing Android Messages, Sanaz Ahari, assures me that Google recognizes the need for private chat within RCS and is working on it. Here's her full statement: "We fundamentally believe that communication, especially messaging, is highly personal and users have a right to privacy for their communications. And we're fully committed to finding a solution for our users."
RCS's biggest problem is that messages are still not end-to-end encrypted. iMessage, WhatsApp, and Signal are secured in that way, and even Facebook has said it will make all its apps encrypted by default. Google's chat solution is increasingly looking out of touch -- even immoral. But there is hope on that front as well. The product management director overseeing Android Messages, Sanaz Ahari, assures me that Google recognizes the need for private chat within RCS and is working on it. Here's her full statement: "We fundamentally believe that communication, especially messaging, is highly personal and users have a right to privacy for their communications. And we're fully committed to finding a solution for our users."
No need to find us a solution (Score:2)
Signal did it already. And OTR before that.
Re: (Score:3)
Exactly. Google is a day late and a dollar short. Why would I be breathlessly waiting for them to slowly force a rollout of a messaging service with no privacy when I already have end to end encryption and no need to wait to see if the carrier and Google decide I'm worthy.
Even a Me Too product needs to at least be as capable as the thing it is Me Too-ing.
Re: (Score:2)
Why would I be breathlessly waiting for them
We won't.
But it's possible this will become the standard. And then you, me and all the other hold-out's will be compelled to use it.
My email isn't hosted with Google, so they don't get to trawl through my messages. But if those sending me email use Gmail, Google still wins.
Re: (Score:2)
If the recipient doesn't have RCS, it falls back to SMS. I would advise anyone using SMS as a (poor) 2FA to avoid RCS.
Misunderstood (Score:5, Funny)
When I first read this headline, I thought for sure that finally Revision Control System was making a comeback!
Nope, Git it remains then.
I'm sure the wide-open chat thing is very nice.
Google happy to always "help" (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This is all part of the race for relevance. SMS has been on the decline for years, ever since the likes of Signal, Whatapp, Telegram and so on. Even "the kids" don't use SMS any longer. Thus the carriers all needed to do something to stand some chance of relevance - and RCS was it.
Right now, you need an RCS-capable messaging app. I believe Samsung's 'messenger' app can send SMS or RCS, but if you don't have that, then you'll need a separate app to send/receive RCS - which is obviously a huge barrier to adop
And next year, CVS! (Score:3)
I still use RCS, occasionally, for source-controlling individual files. If it's only a single file, having just the "file,v" or the "RCS,file,v" can be very useful for tracking changes locally. CVS evolved from it, and Subversion evolved from CVS.
Comment (Score:1)
I want to say mine was funnier, but I believe you win for bringing CVS up as well. Bravo!
Re: (Score:2)
To be fair, people who text while walking or driving do seem to be a bit spaced out...
Google Voice? (Score:2)
Another one? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
How many message services has Google launched and buried by now? Just another one, but for what?
It seems as though RCS is a standard that carriers have agreed upon therefore it is unlikely to be buried.
However, as it's a replacement for SMS I wouldn't be surprised it it stayed unburied AND also unused.
Re: (Score:2)
This isn't a Google app, it's the evolution of SMS that is now part of the GPRS standard. It will probably be around for decades, even if no-one uses it, because it's just part of the standard now.
I wish Jabber had taken off, or rather been better than it was. I don't need so many messaging apps to keep in touch with different people. SMS for businesses, WhatsApp for western friends, LINE for Japanese, QQ and WeChat for Chinese...
RCS could have been the one, the unifier, but unfortunately it's crap. No end
Re: (Score:2)
What it does locally has no impact on what it transmits.
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iMessage is end-to-end encrypted? Since when?
Since always.
iMessage on macOS stores in a SQLite file in cleartext at ~/Library/Messages/chat.db
You clearly don't know what end-to-end encryption means, because what you're talking about has nothing to do with it. You're talking about encryption at rest, but a lack of encryption at rest does not mean a lack of end-to-end encryption. Each end is welcome to do whatever it wants with the data, including storing it in clear text. The point of end-to-end encryption is to keep anyone in between from snooping on the content of the messages as the messages are transiting between users.
But if encr
Won't help me until Apple supports it (Score:1)
Until Apple supports it through iMessage, it won't really help much.
Interoperability is the name of the game now and until someone gets not only everyone to use it, but for everyone to adopt it, I don't see it helping. Right now, they are betting that once everyone with an android gets RCS, that'll put pressure on Apple to include it within iMessage, and I don't see that happening so much.
This is why SMS and MMS are still king. Everyone has it and everything that tries to replace it requires it's own fiefdo
Re: (Score:2)
Except that SMS requires a fucking cellular account, while iMessage and RCS only require a wifi connection.
"Better" (Score:2)
>"For the first time in years, Google will directly offer a better default texting experience"
That depends on what is meant by "better." I use a non-Google texting app (Textra), and don't define better as Google having easy access to all my text messages. (Nor do I use Gmail or Chrome on my Android phone). I am not happy about carriers access my messaging, but would be far less happy with it being Google. Of course, as it stands now, they might both already have access, regardless of client... at lea
Bolt-on Encryption (Score:2)
The long history of private messaging is that the systems that work are e2e from the ground up. Adding "private modes" exposes the system to implementation errors.