A recent announcement from Google Senior VP Hiroshi Lockheimer via CNET has revealed that AT&T’s default messaging app will now utilize the Jibe platform. As a result, Android users with AT&T will have immediate access to Rich Communication Service (RCS) features, including end-to-end encryption, higher-quality images, larger character limits for messages, and read receipts, to name a few. Like iMessage, these features are exclusive to RCS users communicating with another RCS user or during a group chat with all users using RCS. By default, AT&T Android users can now use the AT&T messaging app and enjoy all the enhanced RCS features, including new ones such as adding emojis to replies.
While Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T have agreed to pre-install Google’s RCS message app on their Android phones, some users may still have been confused by the inclusion of their carriers’ own SMS/MMS apps. The availability of RCS to AT&T’s Android users by default could significantly increase the platform’s user base and potentially reach 1 billion users by the end of this year. Presently, there are approximately 800 million RCS users worldwide.
Google has been exerting pressure on Apple to support RCS, but the Cupertino-based tech giant currently has no plans to do so. During a September 2019 Vox Media conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked if his late predecessor, Steve Jobs, would have supported RCS in iMessage. Cook responded that Jobs “would love to convert you to an iPhone.” A subsequent remark to Cook about poor picture quality on Android devices compared to iPhones led him to reply, “Buy your mom an iPhone.”
If you don’t have the Messages by Google app on your Google phone, you can download it from the Play Store by tapping on this link.
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