Google continues to improve the formula of Messages, its messaging application. On the beta version of the app, the Mountain View company is currently testing an icon that will allow you to identify RCS conversations in your history at a glance.
To encourage users to turn away from competing messaging apps like WhatsApp, Google has been working to improve the Messages experience in recent months. Since January 2023, we can now create discussion groups bringing together around a hundred people.
In April 2023, the app acquired some welcome new features, starting with the possibility of reducing the definition of the photos sent. Additionally, Google announced that group conversations would finally be encrypted on Messages, a security layer that was sorely lacking.
However, our colleagues from the Android Headlines site have discovered a new feature, currently in the test phase on the latest beta version “20230615_02_RC00” of Google Messages.
RCS chats finally featured on Google Messages
If you’re a regular Google Messages user, you know there’s currently no way to quickly differentiate RCS conversations from regular SMS chats. The only way to find out is to directly enter the conversation or start writing a message to a recipient.
From now on, messages sent or received in RCS format will be accompanied by a padlock icon. In addition, when you start writing a message, you will either have a lock icon next to the send button, or either the mention SMS.
Thanks to this small modification, iIt will be much easier to spot RCS conversations in your chat list. By opening Google Messages, this padlock icon will also be affixed to the profile pictures of your recipients. Specifically, it will display on the lower right corner, both for individual and group discussions.
As a reminder, Apple is still determined to shun the RCS, despite the adoption of the Digital Market Act in Europe, a law aimed in particular at standardizing the various messaging services. The apple brand argues security issues, judging in particular that the RCS protocol does not effectively encrypt conversations.
Source : Android Headlines
