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In the Messages app, Google is experimenting with end-to-end encryption for group chats

Google has announced today that it is testing end-to-end encryption for RCS-based group conversations in its Messages app. RCS stands for Rich Communication Services. Company representatives mentioned that in the next weeks, this function would be made available to a limited number of app users who are participating in an open beta test.

This is in response to a number of Redditors in October who discovered that Google was testing end-to-end encryption for group conversations. The most recent business statement confirms it.

In 2020, Google began experimenting with end-to-end encryption for regular RCS conversations. It made the update to its Messages app available to everyone in June.

RCS, an enhanced form of SMS with features like typing indications, delivery, and read receipts, has been the focus of Google’s efforts to get manufacturers and carriers to embrace it. It’s also been running ads encouraging Apple to use the same protocol in its own Messages app. Android users will be able to send their iPhone-using pals higher-quality photographs and movies in elaborate multimedia communications.

Google didn’t pass up the chance to give Apple another gentle prod with this statement, despite the fact that the Cupertino tech titan hasn’t budged thus far.

“Today, all of the major mobile carriers and manufacturers have adopted RCS as the standard – except for Apple. Apple refuses to adopt RCS and continues to rely on SMS when people with iPhones message people with Android phones, which means their texting is stuck in the 1990s,” Neena Budhiraja, said in a blog post.

“Hopefully, Apple can #GetTheMessage so we don’t have to keep waiting to remove the whole ‘green-versus-blue bubble’ thing. Happy birthday, SMS – you were a great start, and you had a good run, but everyone is ready for an upgrade.”

By integrating features like response support for iPhone messages, Google has attempted to unify the experience between the two platforms.