Following the information that Apple is including RCS help to the iPhone, Google is out with a press release this afternoon. 

Google says it’s “glad to see Apple take their first step at this time by approaching board to embrace RCS.” The corporate has been a vocal critic of the iPhone’s lack of RCS degrading the messaging expertise for Android customers. In actual fact, the final “Get The Message” marketing campaign this September equated the iPhone to a pager for not supporting the fashionable normal.

In the meantime, Google will “look ahead to working with them to implement this on iOS in a manner that works nicely for everybody.” Apple has but to supply exact implementation particulars, however did tout options like learn receipts, high-resolution photos and movies, and higher group conversations, whereas a location sharing functionality was additionally talked about.

Apple mentioned it wished to work with GSM Affiliation members so as to add robust encryption to the RCS specification. It took this morning’s assertion to spotlight iMessages because the “finest and most safe messaging expertise for Apple customers.” Nevertheless, the help coming with subsequent yr’s iOS replace would be the “the usual [RCS Universal Profile] as at present revealed by the GSM Affiliation.”

For the time being, Google has its personal end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) implementation with the Messages app on Android that works with 1:1 and group conversations. The latter took slightly below two years to implement. 

Google’s full assertion is under:

“Everybody deserves to speak with one another in methods which can be trendy and safe, it doesn’t matter what cellphone they’ve. That’s why now we have labored intently with the cellular trade to speed up the adoption of RCS, and we’re glad to see Apple take their first step at this time by approaching board to embrace RCS. We welcome Apple’s participation in our ongoing work with GSMA to evolve RCS and make messaging extra equitable and safe, and look ahead to working with them to implement this on iOS in a manner that works nicely for everybody.”