Tired of dilly-dallying at the end of US telecom carriers, Google has announced to roll out its own Rich Communication Services, or more commonly known as RCS, on Android that will replace the traditional SMS text messaging with more useful chat features.
With RCS on Android, when you and your friends message each other with new chat features, you can chat over Wi-Fi or mobile data, send and receive high-resolution photos and videos, and see if people have received your latest messages. Read on to find out more.
Excited news ahead
November 14, was an exciting day for the state of messaging on Android. At long last, Google flipped the switch and began rolling out its RCS chat functionality for everyone in the U.S. — regardless of what phone or carrier you have.
RCS brings a heap of features to the Google Messages app, including typing indicators, better group chats, high-quality photo sharing, and more.
Get to know more about RCS
RCS is a communication protocol between mobile-telephone carriers and between phone and carrier, aiming at replacing SMS messages with a text-message system that is richer and can transmit in-call multimedia.
Google said it is committed to working with its partners, including carriers and device makers, to provide a consistent and interoperable experience for everyone on Android.
You’ll be able to do more, says Google
Earlier this year, Google enabled the ability for anyone in the UK, France, and Mexico to get chat features in Messages. Users of Google’s app will eventually see a notification to “Do more with Messages,” and then they’ll be able to “enable chat features” which is RCS.
Chat features are already available for some in Google Messages and are being broadly rolled out in the US.