Means nothing to me. I'm Android-free. I don't know a single person I talk to that uses an Android.
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Google Reveals When to Expect RCS Support on iPhone for Improved Texting With Android Users
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The bubble colors still not gonna change. Apple will show blue bubble due the recently implemented PQ3.
security.apple.com
RCS will be the less secure, non-quantum proof implementation. - green bubble
PQ3 most secure, quantum proof implementation - blue bubble (switch to Apple if you want higher security standard)
See in October!
Blog - iMessage with PQ3: The new state of the art in quantum-secure messaging at scale - Apple Security Research
We are introducing PQ3, a groundbreaking cryptographic protocol for iMessage that advances the state of the art of end-to-end secure messaging. With compromise-resilient encryption and extensive defenses against even highly sophisticated quantum attacks, PQ3 provides protocol protections that...
RCS will be the less secure, non-quantum proof implementation. - green bubble
PQ3 most secure, quantum proof implementation - blue bubble (switch to Apple if you want higher security standard)
See in October!
Google's past messaging apps were never meant to replace SMS. They were meant to be messaging apps, like WhatsApp.
RCS was the first true SMS replacement.
This could make it easier for Android users to do the right thing and switch to iPhone.
Correct me if I am wrong...but Messenger is certainly cross platform you can have it on desktop/iOS/Android, Instagram too, along with Discord.. I don't know much about the others, but these all can be used cross platform.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for RCS to be a true SMS replacement though. I suspect a lot of carriers will drag their feet. Also, it seems some may charge extra for RCS over SMS, so this will be a factor to consider.
The key word in my post was "universal", not "cross platform". Most cell phone users do NOT have Messenger on their phones and never will. Both WhatsApp and WeChat which I referenced in my post are far more popular than Messenger, but those are far from universal too.
In contrast, once iOS gets it, RCS will be universal across iPhones and Android phones with no third party app required.
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👍 I needed to know this. Thanks.
Most likely it will be Google’s set up because Apple refused to come to the table on RCS or setting it up. Now Apple can complain but by refusing to even come to the table they have to accept what others have set up.
Apple is only doing RCS because China made them do it and even then only doing the minimum.
Exactly! I don't believe this RCS thing would change anything in the Europe, where only minority is still using SMS. Mainly seniors are using SMS still here and I dare to say they don't care about RCS features.
Once Apple supports it, then the last hold out will really be things like 2FA codes which are quickly being replaced by authenticator apps anyway. I doubt SMS will ever really go away, there's no reason for it to and it will be a long tail to zero, but it does need to be replaced with something more reliable. MMS however should go away the day after Apple adopts RCS.
This sounds rather cocky, jeremy. Anyway glad to know this information!
You do not need a central party to manage the certs. For end to end you don’t need it at all. There are a lot of very open source standards for encryption end to end. Standards ssl protocols can work here.
Self signed certs in this case would be fine and honestly not even certs are needed. Just a way to pass the keys between each other which again ssl protocols could work just fine. SSL is a lot of what https uses.
End to end is not super complicated and fairly easy. Now having a standard everyone agrees on how to move the keys between the parties that is a different story. Encryption part it self not complicated
This doesn’t allow anyone using Google RCS to move away from SMS, if there’s no data, there’s no RCS. Only areas where the carriers have adopted RCS as a core technology will be able to move away from SMS.
And, everyone communicating outside their carrier that does support the Universal Profile will still need to fallback to SMS because most carriers in the world haven’t adopted RCS, so…
The people being punished by lack of RCS are iPhone users who are stuck using the insecure SMS/MMS.
The Universal Profile is encrypted in transit but is not E2EE.
Google's Jibe profile is E2EE, but Apple is not adopting the Jibe profile for obvious reasons. They are adopting the Universal Profile standard as adopted by the GSMA.
I am hopeful that Apple, Google, and the GSMA will work together to elevate the Universal Profile to be E2EE.
You may think that, but it's not really true. There was an interesting stat that I saw while back that stated that worldwide, more people use SMS in the world than have access to indoor plumbing. The numbers are HUGE - we're talking billions of cell phone users here, including hundreds of millions in Europe.
For example, SMS is used by over 300 million people in North America.
That would probably be news to the GSMA as they haven’t touched their standard since BEFORE the CCMI initiative failed.
what?!?! you said both universal and cross platform in your post, and now you are breaking down what people do or do not have on the phone? you didn't mention anything about preinstalled apps needing to be a requirement. The fact that most of the messaging apps available are both universal and cross platform across more devices than just phones. Now if you said interoperable that would be another thing.
On Android, it currently functions solely on Google Messenger. However, recent reports suggest that Apple is taking proactive steps to ensure proper functionality by engaging with service providers to address what Google has achieved. That's the latest update on the matter!
Doesn't Google use MLS?
Messaging Layer Security - Wikipedia
RFC 9420: The Messaging Layer Security (MLS) Protocol
Messaging applications are increasingly making use of end-to-end security mechanisms to ensure that messages are only accessible to the communicating endpoints, and not to any servers involved in delivering messages. Establishing keys to provide such protections is challenging for group chat...
www.rfc-editor.org
Apple revealed it when they said it was coming later this year which obviously means iOS 18 which gets released in the Fall. Which is why Google says as Apple already announced, it's coming in the fall. Yes, Apple could delay it until the last week of December, Christmas time and would technically be Winter then, but the chance of them doing that is almost none, so we all assume it will come with iOS 18 which is released in the Fall. If anything Google is just putting on a page to better hold them to that timeframe that Apple essentially announced already, incase Apple tries to delay until next year.
That's why I wrote "Europe" specifically. It's very much different in the North America.
And now compare this trend to the US
This also tells the story about iMessage usage in the US vs in the Europe. The Europe is just used to 3rd party cross-platform messengers.
Maybe I was unclear and didn't explain myself well enough, but I would have thought it was self-explanatory. I was wrong to think that, but the point remains the same. RCS has the huge advantage of being universal. Once iOS gets it, EVERYONE will have it. Well, everyone with recent hardware and iOS 18 (or 17.5?). This is a big deal, is why RCS is the first protocol that has a fighting chance to actually SMS. Messenger is not an SMS replacement and never will be.
Stuff like Messenger pales in comparison. MOST people do not have Messenger installed, and never will. MOST people do not have WhatsApp installed, and never will, yet, WhatsApp worldwide is much more popular than Messengers. This is a huge problem with these apps.
This was assumed, but never confirmed. For example, sometimes Apple adds functionality to the last iteration of an iOS version. eg. 17.5. I don't think it will be in 17.5 either, but like you, I'm just guessing.
iOS RCS messages will not be green as in SMS ones, but brown💩.
I’m happy about this but also conflicted. I use an iPhone SE 1 as I love the small form factor, home button, and headphone jack. RCS not being able to go to that device will basically kill it in the modern world. It currently gets by just fine in life, but now it’s going to have a huge flag on it that says it’s not compatible with the modern world.