#rcschat

All three big US carriers will be switched to Android Messages as default for RCS Chat, just Apple remains for supporting E2EE RCS

 Beginning next year, Verizon will join AT&T and T-Mobile in preloading Android Messages as the default texting app on all Android phones it sells. It’s the final step for making RCS Chat — the next-gen standard designed to replace SMS — the default experience for Android. In the US, that only leaves one large cohort that will not use RCS as a default SMS replacement: iPhone users.

 So yes, Apple has iMessages, but only on Apple so that is of zero use in any situation where you have friends, colleagues or family on Android (it's a real world out here). For anything to replace SMS, it needs to be completely cross-platform and able to be the default messaging app. Google supposedly has no plans either to try to introduce a messaging app that supports RCS on the iPhone.

 See https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/20/22584443/verizon-android-messages-rcs

 #technology #RCS #RCSChat #privacy #E2EE