To celebrate 30 years of the Short Messaging Service (SMS), Google has announced that its Messages app will now support end-to-end encryption for group chats, a feature that has already been available for individual chats for a couple of years.
However, the end-to-end encryption for group chats is only available to beta users of the Google Messages app, so you will need to enter the beta program in order to get a glimpse of the new and improved security feature before its released globally to the stable version.
Furthermore, Google has announced that Messages app will soon let users react to RCS (Rich Communication Services) messages with any emoji, which is similar to WhatsApp or Messenger.
Google also made a dig at Apple for its refusal to adopt RCS, saying, “all of the major mobile carriers and manufacturers have adopted RCS as the standard – except for Apple.” The company added, “Apple refuses to adopt RCS and continues to rely on SMS when people with iPhones message people with Android phones, which means their texting is stuck in the the 1990s.”
The Mountain View-based search giant also launched #GetTheMessage campaign a few months ago as it called for Apple to adopt RCS, but the iPhone maker has been a bit stubborn, with Apple CEO Tim Cook saying that he’d rather convert Android users to iPhones instead.
Read more: WhatsApp Users Can Soon Now Share Contact Cards on Windows Beta.
