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Google Messages turning on RCS by default, group E2E encryption launches (9to5google.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/android@lemdro.id
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[–] 121 points 3 years ago (2 children)

Make a public RCS API for Android. Stop trying to get people to use your app by withholding features from third party apps.

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  • [–] 42 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Yeah I thought RCS was going to be this platform-agnostic service Γ  la SMS.

    I'm trying out matrix with my close family and it's working great. Bonus points it doesn't require a phone number or even a phone at all.

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  • [–] 12 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Last time I tried to introducing my family to an alternate messaging that wasn't the default app on their phone I started getting messages in both places with no rhyme or reason to why they would use one over the other.

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  • [+] 10 points 3 years ago (2 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Thanks you! I use Textra, it's so much better than the stock app but Google never opened up their API. I believe for Google said they were going to back in like 2018 or something (if I'm not mistaken, which I could be)

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Textra was the best before rcs was launched. Id love to see them get their hands on an API for it.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    I tried switching to the Google app for a month or two. I ended up back at Textra. Turns out I care more about the user experience than rcs. Still, it would be nice to have rcs but I can live without it. But I agree, I'd love to see them get their hands on the API.

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    • [–] 30 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (5 children)

    Fix the goddamned failover to SMS you morons! My kids don't have data plans and I usually keep data turned off on my phone (because Canada), I keep having to turn off RCS altogether because if I try to send them a message over RCS it doesn't failover to SMS (yes, I have the option turned on), it just sits there dumfounded saying "can't deliver".

    You fail at failing.

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    [–] 21 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    That's nice. But without some serious marketing they won't get people off of WhatsApp in Europe.

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  • [–] 20 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    I don't know how much better going to another closed system is. AFAIK it's only Google running these servers and only their implementation.

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  • [–] 12 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Yeah. I don't really think it's better either. I just think it'll fall flat on its face like Google's many many previous attempts at messaging unless they actually tell people it exists.

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  • [+] 7 points 3 years ago (3 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] [S] 12 points 3 years ago

    Google's RCS has 800M active users and it's projected to hit 1B by the end of the year matching iMessage's usage. Whether people actually know that it's RCS or not, it's been a pretty successful service for Google so far.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Don't worry about Europe, we don't use SMS and we also do not want RCS.
    We are perfectly fine using apps like Telegram/whatsapp/Signal.

    The whole "green/blue bubbles" thing is USA only, keep it USA only please, thank you.

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    • [–] 16 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Yeah, I already noticed this in the last few days... my texts now show two checkmarks and a lock... at least when I text another Android user.

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    • [–] 10 points 3 years ago (10 children)

    Only "benefit" of RCS I've seen is the avalanche of spam from companies. I'll be turning it off. Don't text that much anyway.

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    [–] 7 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    As someone who currently uses Pulse SMS+ and has been looking for alternatives like Google Messaging, are there any major issues I should be aware of?

    I liked Pulse since I could send messages from a desktop app, but I can't install it on my work computer any longer.

    I also liked the WearOS app from Pulse, but they discontinued it.

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  • [–] [S] 6 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    The one bug that I've had for a long while now is the "auto resend as SMS" feature that's supposed to kick in if the RCS chat fails, takes forever to work. It's much faster to just manually hit the send as SMS option if there are issues going on.

    It uses the Signal protocol for its encryption so they went with a well known and proven option, but metadata isn't encrypted like it is with the actual Signal app apparently so it's not quite as secure.

    A good chunk of my family uses Android and all have RCS enabled so I get to use it a good amount and it's been pretty solid for me.

    Edit: the desktop app is actually just a PWA website so that might be able to get around your work PC's restrictions on installing apps.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    I moved to Google Messages when Signal dropped SMS support and it's been fine. Most people I know who aren't on Signal or WhatsApp are on iPhones, but there are a decent number who apparently have RCS so -- perversely -- Signal dropping SMS support had actually resulted in a net increase in my secure messaging.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    That is why signal dropped support for it.theybssid it was to increase security because users could accidentally be using signal sending regular SMS. The way you got lore secure is not how they advertised the removal, but makes sense that happens in some cases. Same thing happened to me.

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    • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    The people using RCS, does the phone have to be on for it to work? If you're using the web app can it just skip the phone entirely?

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    • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I thought it was already on by default? Or is that just for pixels

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    • [–] 3 points 3 years ago

    But google voice?

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