Google is testing end-to-end encryption in Android messages

Google has started rolling out end-to-end encryption for Rich Communication Service, the text messaging standard that the industry giant offers as an alternative to SMS.

Short in RCS, Rich Communication Service provides a … well, richer user experience than the old SMS standard. Input metrics, presence information, location sharing, longer posts, and better media support are the main selling points. They lead to things like better photos and videos, chatting over Wi-Fi, knowing when a message is read, sharing feedback, and better capabilities for group chats. As Ron Amadeo, editor of Ars Review, noted last year, carrier interest in RCS has been lukewarm, so Google has rolled it out with limited support.

Google said on Thursday that it has now completed its global rollout of RCS and is moving to a new phase: end-to-end encryption. Interest in end-to-end encryption has exploded over the past decade, particularly with Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s indiscriminate spying on electronic communications.

End-to-end encryption is the antidote to this type of espionage. It uses strong cryptography to encrypt messages with a key unique to each user. Since the key is in the sole possession of each user, end-to-end encryption prevents everyone – including the app creator, ISP or operator and three-letter agencies – from reading a message. . Messaging apps that currently provide E2EE include Signal, WhatsApp, and iMessage, to name just three.

Now Google wants to join the club. For now, E2EE will only be available to people using the beta version of the Android Messages app. And even then, E2EE will only work for one-to-one messages between people using the Google app, and both senders and recipients will need to enable chat features. The deployment will continue next year.

In 2016, Google launched its Allo messaging app. It also offered E2EE, but only when users dug into a settings menu and turned it on. Two years later, Google killed him. This time with RCS, Google said, “Qualifying conversations will automatically be upgraded to be end-to-end encrypted.”