The Android developer just published an updated landing page for Google Messages, showing off key features ranging from customization, privacy and security, and, of course, AI.
On this landing page, there are different sections for each feature set, including one for RCS. As spotted by 9to5Google, if you expand this list of RCS features and scroll to the bottom, you see a section on “Coming soon on iOS: Better messaging for all.” That’s no surprise: We’ve known Apple was adopting RCS since November. However, it’s the next line that brings the news: “Apple has announced it will be adopting RCS in the fall of 2024.”
Of course, this does not say a lot as it is “in the fall” which is anywhere over a couple of months, and Google has tried to embarrass Apple into making moves before. I suppose, though, there is the looming court case against Apple which is anyway keeping pressure on Apple. If it were not for the US court case, I would have guessed Apple may have pulled out after the EU had ruled Apple was not a dominant player in the market (although the EU case was looking more at interoperability with WhatsApp and others in Apple Messages).
Of course, with Apple actually including RCS now, they can probably argue that there is interoperability via RCS between their platform and Android too. It must be remembered that in many countries, like mine, SMS’s are paid for so are very expensive to use for any form of chatting, and the costs go up exponentially when you text an international number.
I personally have quite a few issues with interoperability with Apple:
- I still have AirTags from when I had an iPhone and I daily get the audio beeps warning me the AirTags are not connected (I use an Android phone and alternate between an iPad and an Android tablet)
- I can’t wait to sell my AirTags and get the new one’s Google was working on that will interoperate with Apple, but supposedly Apple has been delaying building in that support into their devices (which Google already built into Android for AirTags in 2023)
- Because I was on Apple Messages and my iPad still sometimes connects, I find a message on my iPad that arrived a week ago which I had not seen (I had Beeper which was solving this problem)
Apple is not at all dominant outside the USA, but it makes interacting with Apple users quite a pain, as Apple has gone out of their way to try to keep their users inside the walled garden.
See https://lifehacker.com/tech/google-just-revealed-when-apple-will-officially-adopt-rcs
#technology #RCS #Apple #interoperability
Watch them be pee-yellow bubbles or something, but still not blue, lol.
Honestly they shouldn’t be blue. I don’t say this out of some kind of elitism, I just mean that the different colored chat bubbles are what currently tell you whether you’re using Apple’s E2EE chat function or plain text SMS. RCS would also support encryption, but currently Apple allows you to opt into tighter security controls that hide your iMessage encryption keys even from Apple when your messages are backed up. Your RCS chat partner opens half of the encrypted end to Google’s security policies which you won’t have any control over. So knowing that I’m using RCS when messaging somebody is something I’d want to be aware of.
Right, consider the case of iMessages being green. If you have an iMessage chat with blue bubbles, but try to text from an area with poor reception, it can fail over to SMS. With this scenario, it’s pretty clear why you still want green bubbles to tell you the chat is degraded
I’d assume they’d just be green
Apple hasn’t agreed to implement RCS encryption, but maybe they will anyway
Maybe teal or cyan (green + blue) 😉
Or maybe they could just allow users to change the colors of their bubbles as a UI preference option.
RCS will replace SMS/MMS, not iMessage. Whether it’s encrypted or not, Apple will still regard it as being a tier beneath their own solution. So green is the new green.
I don’t mind the different color. Since SMS or RCS can cost money depending on where you are and which contract you have it’s an important information for me if I’m not using iMessage.
Light gray bubbles, white text
I hate that so much but you’re probably right 😅
modern features like E2EE
This is false. E2EE is not part of the spec. It’s just a feature of Google’s implementation, which Apple will absolutely not be using.
Incorrect. They’re working with the GSMA on a universal E2EE protocol. They mentioned that we should not expect E2EE in the first release of RCS on iOS.
It’s coming, but since they don’t want the proprietary thing Google has, and they want a standard, it’s coming later.
This is so important.
I read about Apple looking to bring the spec up to par, but I suspect it has a higher chance of being a nothing-burger since carriers haven’t bothered with RCS and Google’s implementation is as controlled/proprietary as iMessage so it will be interesting to see how things go forward.
Apple and others have complained that Google was gatekeeping the RCS encryption plugin, and that it needed to be an open standard. Both Apple and Google are now contributing to and open encryption standard now, which should benefit lots of messaging clients.
That said, the PR folks said late last year that we should not expect encrypted RCS on iOS with release 1 of iOS RCS.
Google’s website is not incorrect. It’s just missing nuance and dates.
it’s ironic with all this that Google fi messages on Android still doesn’t support rcs without losing a bunch of other features
What messaging app are you using, because I’ve been using RCS messaging for the past 5 years on Fi.
Google messages. Here is the support article on the tradeoffs: https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6188337
That is using messaging for the web through Google Fi. But there is little reason to do that now as Google messages the app itself can be used through messages.google.com. there are several stand alone computer applications that use the portal as well (messages in the windows store, messages or google-messages package in most distros. Dunno about Mac. Either way, instead of fi being the backend, the app connects directly to your PC. You just have to pair your phone using the app directly.
yeah that works, it’s even the same interface. you just lose out on also making calls and voicemail from web
Well, I’ll be damned.
That article is about Google Messages for Web (aka texting from your computer). It has nothing to do with RCS on your phone.
Also Google Voice doesn’t support RCS at all.
Better yet - Android refuse to support RCS natively in the operaring system itself like it does with SMS since Android ~10.
Apple is not at all dominant outside the USA
Depends on the country. iOS has over 50% of the mobile market in more nations than you might realize. This is especially true for English speaking countries.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/iphone-market-share-by-country
True, but the big number really is the USA followed maybe by Australia. Entire Middle East, Africa, South America, and Asia are Android. India is also massive (behind China), and India is 95% Android.
iOS has markets that it dominates more than the US. For example, Japan, Denmark and Canada. Japan is particularly unique. It’s just under 70% on iOS, while the US is sub 60%
Yes, but a percentage has to be seen in the context of the total to gauge its impact. India for example is 95% of 1.428 billion people vs Japan is 70% of only 124 million. There are just under 200 countries.
Apple is not at all dominant outside the USA
This is all I was replying too. Just saying there are non US markets that Apple dominates.
You’re talking about one country, worldwide Android has about 70% market share.
one country
?
I’m confused. The point of that link was to show that there are other countries, other than the US, that have most of the nation using iOS.
But yes, Android dominates worldwide installs. I’m not debating that, and that link also very clearly shows that.
So basically what everyone predicted when Apple said it would occur in 2024.
Major new features are always in the n.0.0 fall releases. No way this was going to be bundled with a late in life iOS 17 bug and security update.
“Fall of 20xx” is when Apple usually releases new versions of iOS, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that iOS18 will be the release.
Then:
Being left behind because you don’t use Apple approved device, operating system and proprietary app.Now:
Being left behind because you don’t use Apple or Google approved device, operating system and proprietary app.RCS should not really be a proprietary app in the sense of a 3rd part installable app. It is normally carrier provided just like SMS works. On Apple the default SMS/Messenger is Apple’s Messages app. On Pixel that is Google Messages and on Samsung phones they have their own one. It has a carrier hook and is apparently tied to the number.
RCS should not really be a proprietary app in the sense of a 3rd part installable app.
But it is. SMS works via operating system exposing an API for developers for the phone modem interface. Google Messages is just an internet messaging app, just instead of using Internet standards like XMPP (from creators of Email and IP) it uses carrier’s standards which are mainly made with carriers being required in mind.
If you don’t believe me get a blocklist for all Google’s IP addresses and you’ll see Google Messages would stop working. Or just do anything with root account and Google server would stop allowing the app to work (https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/1/24087418/google-messages-blocking-rcs-on-rooted-android-devices).
The implementation in the real world is a mess, especially because the carriers have basically outsourced implementation to Google rather than trying to actually implement it themselves.
Right now, Google controls the entire stack (mobile OS, specific app, service provider). Still, once Apple implements a service provider (and locks it to their own mobile OS and app), that should allow for an opportunity for another to set up their own service provider that interfaces properly with either Google or Apple servers. And then that service provider would be able to provide an interface for any OS, any app, through an open API.
I would advocate for the path forward to be truly federated RCS providers being able to operate at will, where the accountholder of any phone number could affirmatively choose which RCS service provider to use (akin to how a domain owner can configure their domain to use a specific server for email to that domain, whether it’s self hosted or a cloud service provided by a big tech corporation like Google or Microsoft, or a smaller provider like Proton). Or at least, with number portability, let people choose small phone providers (like MVNOs) that compete on RCS implementation.
But I’m not holding my breath for that. I’d assume we’re currently on a path towards a duopoly, where Google provides the service for everyone on Android, and Apple provides the service for everyone on iPhones. Not clear what happens with “landline”/VOIP providers not locked to mobile devices, though, especially the commercial systems for corporate/enterprise users.
Google’s own one may be, and that is their right, but it is an open standard so anyone can produce their own RCS app like Samsung has done, and the same way Apple is building support into their exiting app. Nothing should stop a 3rd party developer looking at the standard, and producing an open source RCS app?
anyone can produce their own RCS app
Yes, but Google basically owns all the servers. That’s why Apple didn’t want to join it.
Also the fact that nobody outside of the US cares about SMS or RCS, we never use it for anything else than getting appointment notifications from systems without apps and outdated 2FA.
Not really so, as MSMS is a major thing by us (outside the US) for most notifications from banks, gov, transactions, visit to pharmacy, etc. Incoming is fine apart from fact it is all open for anyone to read, but replies cost money. Also, where people are not using the same messenger, then it is sms text messages, each costing money. For pre-paid phone accounts, those SMSS messages cost even a bit more. SMS today is still the common denominator everything falls back on. It is very expensive when you consider what is paid, and it is only around 140 characters vs data.
As it is now the word “standard” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Google themselves aren’t even done with the specs so it’s not trivial to support all functions when they are not described. So there’s plenty of problems for 3rd party. A bit of info here.
It is certainly not where it needs to be yet.
So is this going to be standard RCS, which has no encryption and the telcos need to support, or the Googlified version that does E2E encryption but requires storing keys on Google’s servers?
RCS has interoperability issues itself and Google hasn’t been making the situation better.
Apple is apparently working on getting encryption added to the standard
In a background briefing with reporters, Apple spokespeople touted the company’s recent announcement that it will support the RCS messaging standard for iMessage sometime during 2024. In order to attend Apple’s briefing and view a background document, we had to agree to paraphrase the company’s remarks instead of quoting them directly.
Apple clarified that it is not implementing RCS as it exists today because it doesn’t believe the standard offers enough privacy and security. Apple said it is working with a standards body—this is likely a reference to the GSMA—to ensure that the version of RCS it eventually implements will support encryption and strong privacy and security.
Apple said that once it adopts RCS, iPhone and non-iPhone users will be able to exchange messages with higher-resolution photos and videos, and will experience improved group texting. Apple said it hasn’t brought its own message app to non-Apple devices because the user experience wouldn’t meet the company’s standards and that it cannot ensure that a third-party device’s encryption and authentication are secure enough.
I suspected this is what was going on because of the way some of the documents were worded, but I can’t find any direct reference to it. Do you have any? Re: storing encryption keys on google’s servers.
On my phone, so links may come later. It’s hard to find solid documentation on it, since their encryption extension is proprietary, but it’s been referenced as being based on the Signal Protocol. The Signal Protocol, or every implementation of it that I’ve seen, uses a central “trusted” repository of public keys to tell message originators query to encrypt the message to. For Signal, and I assume Google RCS, that central repository is Google. The protocol doesn’t allow for federation, so any system that is interoperable with Google RCS will rely on Google as the trusted authority.
The private key part I’m much less sure of, since both the Signal and Google RCS clients are closed source. Signal makes you jump through hoops to add a new client, involving one of your currently installed clients. This suggests that Signal isn’t in possession of your private keys. On the other hand, all you need to set up a new Google client is your account password. This suggests that either your keys are held by Google (perhaps encrypted by your account password) or that new keys can be added without needing explicit involvement from current keys.
Of course this is all speculation because the implementations aren’t available for inspection.
Love the bottom line in the posting title. Thank you.
But will they fix my Pixel 8 just missing and failing to send RCS messages?
A problem I’ve noticed is I’ve had one person using RCS, then a month or two later I noticed they’d reverted to text. They seemed to know nothing about RCS and claims they never disabled it. So not sure if that was maybe a phone upgrade. Others I’ve not had issues with.
ITT: Americans talking about bubble colours and the rest of the world going “just use Telegram, Signal or Whatsapp like the rest of us”?
Not as simple as that as many did ditch WahtsApp for Meta’s documented privacy violations, and their ongoing T&C which passes the WhatsApp metadata upstream to Meta and others. A lot of people also only use one messenger, and right now nothing connects them together yet. So I have masses of family and friends that only use WhatsApp, and I now only have SMS contact with them. About 8% to 10% do have multiple messengers so I see some on Signal and Telegram.
The last thing the world needs, is for WhatsApp to become the default dominant standard. That is a company that can be least trusted out of everyone worldwide, based on their history. With the app installed, the metadata includes constant location, usage, contacts, messages to who, etc.
Google didnt reveal anything officially. This was probably a mistake because the info is gone from website: https://www.android.com/google-messages/
Hence word “official” not being mentioned. As I recall it was spotted in the code.
