Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
- Google has turned Google Messages encryption on by default for all current and future users.
- Group RCS chats are also now fully encrypted.
- Some users might need to agree to a TOS alert before RCS will work, depending on your wireless carrier’s rules.
RCS chats on Google Messages between yourself and another person are fully end-to-end encrypted (E2EE). However, some group chats — even those with users all using RCS — have been unencrypted if one or more of those users wasn’t using the beta version of the app. Additionally, all users have had to enable RCS support when they first start using Messages.
Today, all that changes. Starting now, globally, RCS will be on by default for all new Messages users. Likewise, Google Messages encryption is active for all group chats with RCS-using members, regardless of their participation in Messages’ beta program.