Google tests end-to-end encrypted group chats in Messaging app
It has also launched campaigns to convince Apple to adopt this standard for its own Messages app.
A recent analysis of the latest update to Google Messages suggests the company is working on end-to-end encryption of Rich Communication Services (RCS), an online protocol to replace traditional SMS messaging, reports 9to5Google.
An internal build of Google Messages v. 6.2 has several lines of code that offer clues to possible future features for the app, including 12 new strings that refer to encryption. The code updates do suggest a setting that might allow users to decide whether to grant permission to other Android apps that have access to messages to see encrypted messages as well.
Rich communication services, or RCS, is the successor to SMS messaging and does what most other texting services do, but without the end-to-end encryption that apps like Signal and iMessage have.
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Google in December 2018 launched an update for Android Messages app that makes SMSing more like texting on an iPhone for the users in the US.
To make conversations more seamless, Google has been working on upgrading traditional SMS text messaging with more useful chat features, powered by RCS.
When you and your friends message each other with these chat features, you can chat over Wi-Fi or mobile data, send and receive high-resolution photos and videos, and see if people have received your latest messages.
RCS is a communication protocol between mobile-telephone carriers and between phone and carrier, aiming at replacing SMS messages with a text-message system that is richer and can transmit in-call multimedia.
Google has also enabled the ability for anyone in the UK, France, and Mexico to get chat features in Messages.
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