All Three Major U.S. Carriers and Google Adopt Rich Communication Services, But No Sign of Apple Interest

[MacRumors]

For the last several years, Google has been pushing a new communications protocol called Rich Communication Services, or RCS. RCS is designed to replace SMS, the current text message standard, and it offers support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, bigger file sizes, better encryption, improved group chat, and more.

Verizon today announced that it is planning to adopt Messages by Google as its default messaging service on Android devices, joining AT&T and T-Mobile. That means all three major carriers in the United States will support the RCS standard on Android devices as of 2022.

As The Verge points out, this leaves Apple as the big RCS holdout, and there are benefits that iPhone users will miss out on.

When RCS sees a complete Android rollout, text messages on Android phones will be end-to-end encrypted. iPhone to iPhone communications are end-to-end encrypted thanks to iMessage, but with this change, texts between Android users and iPhone users will be less secure because of Apple's decision to continue to use SMS over RCS.

Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vice president of Android, told The Verge that Android vs. iPhone messaging security will become an important discussion with the wider adoption of RCS. "The fallback messaging experience on the other platform will not have encryption if it's still SMS," he said. "I think that that is a pretty interesting dynamic and I would hope that as everyone focuses on security and privacy it becomes an important part of the discussion."

Lockheimer did not provide details on whether Google is discussing RCS with Apple, but Apple has been invited to adopt the RCS standard. Apple has declined to comment on RCS, and there's no sign that Apple plans to adopt it in the near future.

Now that all three major carriers in the U.S. are supporting RCS, Apple may be more inclined to consider the technology to make cross-platform messaging more secure.

Article Link: All Three Major U.S. Carriers and Google Adopt Rich Communication Services, But No Sign of Apple Interest

 

[CouldBeWorse]

Apple using RCS with end-to-end encryption as a fallback instead of SMS would be a good thing for iPhone and Android users.

 

[One2Grift]

Vice President of Android on "security" -- if the media dimwits only took a minimal time to learn about security, they'd put an LOL after "security".

 

[kjvmartin]

Not holding my breath. Apple is slow to do anything.

 

[gsmornot]

Apple has not been and likely won't be an early adopter. If this works out as described post deployment, Apple will adopt the standard unless its a threat in some way to iMessage. It could be since the ad for iMessage is security vs SMS which would go away. Still, I think in the end, it will be adopted.

 

[planteater]

RCS may be more secure, but it certainly won't be more private. Google with retain every communication, as it does with every other piece of information it has access to.

 

[agenda893]

Apple built the blue bubble vs green bubble class divide for a reason.

 

[Deguello]

RCS may be more secure, but it certainly won't be more private. Google with retain every communication, as it does with every other piece of information it has access to.

It’s a protocol and it won’t all go through google any more than your SMS messages do now.

 

[Spock]

I am sure they are working on a way to best incorporate this standard with iMessage. Apple is never super fast at adapting to new standards.

 

[CPx]

Do it, Apple!

 

[farewelwilliams]

Stupid idea. There's a better way.

(I'm purposely leaving my idea out because I might work on it in the future)

 

[planteater]

It’s a protocol and it won’t all go through google any more than your SMS messages do now.

RCS is a protocol, but Google Messages is a service that utilizes Google servers.

 

[Deguello]

Stupid idea. There's a better way.

Sweet. What is it?

 

[Deguello]

RCS is a protocol, but Google Messages is a service that utilizes Google servers.

Which has nothing at all do do with the three major carriers using this rather than SMS.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Sweet. What is it?

just edited my post.

"(I'm purposely leaving my idea out because I might work on it in the future)"

 

[AF_APPLETALK]

I am sure they are working on a way to best incorporate this standard with iMessage. Apple is never super fast at adapting to new standards.

They used to champion standards around the early days of Mac OS X. They don’t have to care now because they aren’t on their knees. Just a large corporation that behaves like a cunning _fill in adjective_.

 

[triptolemus]

It could be since the ad for iMessage is security vs SMS which would go away. Still, I think in the end, it will be adopted.

The only thing that matters is the color of your message bubble and its associated vanity. The average user does not know or care about actual security.

 

[triptolemus]

RCS may be more secure, but it certainly won't be more private. Google with retain every communication, as it does with every other piece of information it has access to.

So you just blew right past the encrypted part and went for Google FUD?

 

[One2Grift]

It’s a protocol and it won’t all go through google any more than your SMS messages do now.

Today from The Sun:
"GOOGLE allegedly admitted to listening to conversations recorded by Google Assistant even without a user's "Hey Google" trigger"

Google is the world's biggest advertiser. The lion's share of its huge revenue comes from gathering as much data on a user as possible to monetize that knowledge of each specific user. The more data it can gather on it the more the revenue. This is public record, it is not a secret.
Gee, what could go wrong with massive incentivizing of gathering as much data on a user as possible.

 

[Arcus]

Sweet. What is it?

Tin cans and string

 

[Deguello]

Today from The Sun:
"GOOGLE allegedly admitted to listening to conversations recorded by Google Assistant even without a user's "Hey Google" trigger"

Google is the world's biggest advertiser. The lion's share of its huge revenue comes from gathering as much data on a user as possible to monetize that knowledge of each specific user. The more data it can gather on it the more the revenue. This is public record, it is not a secret.
Gee, what could go wrong with massive incentivizing of gathering as much data on a user as possible.

Which, again, has nothing to do with implementation of the protocol by the three major carriers.

 

[ghanwani]

Even more folks will be forced to use WhatsApp. Already most people that I communicate with who are on Android seem to prefer WhatsApp over SMS.

So Google wants the new standard, Apple is dragging its feet. But what about the all the other phone OSs being used by billions of people?

 

[tongxinshe]

It’s not a standard, it’s a protocol Google advocates, why would you expect Apple to help with making its competitor’s technology a standard? Apple has its own technology that it wants to make an industry standard, Google doesn’t help with any of those, either.

 

[planteater]

So you just blew right past the encrypted part and went for Google FUD?

Perhaps you didn't comprehend what I said. I acknoledged the security, but mentioned that G will still have access to the messages, thus no privacy.

 

[sw1tcher]

Vice President of Android on "security" -- if the media dimwits only took a minimal time to learn about security, they'd put an LOL after "security".

* cough *

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