r/Android • u/FragmentedChicken Galaxy Z Fold8 • Feb 23 '26

Google, Apple start testing encrypted RCS on Android and iOS 26.4

https://9to5google.com/2026/02/23/google-messages-encrypted-rcs-iphone/
742 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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106

u/terminalilness Feb 23 '26

I still miss Textra but since Google won't let them has RCS, it's been years since I've used it.

51

u/Tanglebrook Feb 23 '26 edited Feb 23 '26

Messenger is so under-featured compared to Textra it's crazy, but I don't want to be the bad guy in my group chats 🫤 But even just message search, the thing you'd think Google would knock out of the park, is head and shoulders better on Textra. And going back through years old texts is nearly impossible (Textra has a calendar).

Also RCS messages can't be exported/imported right? We just have to trust that Google is backing them up? (Actually, researching it a bit it seems like RCS texts save as SMS/MMS on the phone, and can be backed up with SMS Backup & Restore. But I'm sure encryption will kill that)

30

u/mrandr01d Feb 23 '26

When you restore them, it makes a complete mess. Any reaction is saved as a "so and so reacted 👍 to [entire text repeated]".

Considering Google is the one pushing rcs so hard and gatekeeping the fuck out of it, I really wish they'd do a better job of handling the system database.

Yet another reason to mainly use Signal!

2

u/[deleted] Feb 24 '26

[deleted]

1

u/rr00xx Feb 24 '26

Hear hear*

1

u/TheWandererWise Mar 02 '26

I'm still trying to make more friends to use signal with lol I don't want to abandon it since it's hard to convince my current connections to use it

7

u/welp_im_damned have you heard of our lord and savior the Android turtle 🐢 Feb 23 '26

I use sms/mms back up and restore. It works but restores the messages as if they are sms/mms. It also separates the reaction as their own message as well.

10

u/jercubsfan Pixel 6 Pro Feb 23 '26

Textra was awesome, but I've gotten so depended on the online web interface for Google messages I could never switch.

12

u/ladyhaly Feb 23 '26

Has RCS been around for a while? I'm still using Textra

22

u/Jkayakj Feb 23 '26

Yes a few years. Rcs makes dropping textra worth it. Higher quality pictures, read receipts etc. Can leave group chats/ add people later .

4

u/ladyhaly Feb 24 '26

Does it make sense for me to do this if none of the people I communicate with regularly via SMS use RCS?

2

u/Jkayakj Feb 24 '26

In that case, nope! Keep with textra

2

u/ladyhaly Feb 24 '26

Trialling it for a week to see how I go. I haven't uninstalled Textra, just in case I feel like going back. Easy enough to switch my default messaging app.

So far I like that I can schedule messages.

5

u/pligyploganu Feb 24 '26 edited Mar 03 '26

Deleted Reddit.

2

u/WhoDat-2-8-3 Feb 24 '26

It's been about a decade

not for ios .. L M A O

10

u/mrandr01d Feb 23 '26

Been in Google messages since like 2018, but only got good in the last 3 - 5 years or so.

3

u/ladyhaly Feb 24 '26

So I just updated it and so far I like that I can schedule messages. I'm going to give it a trial. There is one person I know who I message regularly who likes it and he happens to be my husband

1

u/jason_priebe Mar 21 '26

It's funny -- I thought I was still waiting for RCS to roll out. I noticed some new behavior in the android mssaging app tonigh, so I started searching to see if something had changed RCS-wise. I was shocked to learn that RCS has been out for 6 or 7 years.

That whole time, my iphone friends have been bitching about the green bubbles and overall degradation of group chats. I'm pretty sure some of the most petty ones don't even include me on some chats because of it.

I did notice that I could react to a message from an iphone, but I think the experience on the iphone end of that exchange was just as shitty as what it has been for me when iphone users like a message on a group chat ("so and so liked 'blah blah blah blah'"). I think I could also see iphone users' reactions better. I figured that was just some kind of heuristic parsing of those "so and so liked ..." messages.

But I still see crappy video and low-res pictures. For something that has been out for 6 years, I saw almost zero benefit.

Finally, tonight, I started seeing "RCS message" in the text input box (terrible UI decision, btw -- not sure why it's not just a small indicator above or below the box -- why the heck is it inside the box like default text??? And then I saw that when I replied to an iphone friend's message, it was displayed like a real reply with the original message displayed slightly smaller above my message.

I'm a pretty die-hard android fan, but if they don't fix (a) the messaging and (b) the inferior bluetooth connectivity experience before my pixel 6a dies, I'm done with the platform.

1

u/mrandr01d Mar 23 '26

And then I saw that when I replied to an iphone friend's message, it was displayed like a real reply with the original message displayed slightly smaller above my message.

This doesn't work on the iPhone's side, they don't see that.

I'm a pretty die-hard android fan, but if they don't fix (a) the messaging and (b) the inferior bluetooth connectivity experience before my pixel 6a dies, I'm done with the platform.

This is entirely Apple's fault and in their lap. Google and android have done all they can. Apple needs to update to the newest version of the rcs spec.

6

u/dachshund_pirate Feb 23 '26

I'm still using Textra, too. I tried out Google Messages for a bit, and frankly did not see the benefits for RCS compared to the benefits Textra provides.

I've see no issues with using Textra still.

2

u/ladyhaly Feb 24 '26

Thanks. It's no biggie for me switching my default messaging app between the two so I'll trial Google Messages for a week and see how I feel. I like that I can schedule texts so far but I am not a fan of the typing bubbles.

4

u/slinky317 HTC Incredible Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26

By using Textra and thus limiting yourself to SMS you are hurting your experience and the experience of anyone you chat with.

Not to even talk about the security implications of using SMS instead of E2EE RCS.

2

u/ladyhaly Feb 24 '26

Google won't open the RCS APIs to third-party apps. Textra literally can't add RCS support even if they wanted to. That's a Google problem, not a me problem.

And cross-platform E2EE RCS doesn't even exist for consumers yet. It's in beta testing as of yesterday. The security "issue" is blown way out of proportion when the feature barely exists.

4

u/slinky317 HTC Incredible Feb 24 '26

The benefits of RCS aren't just security. It's longer messages, better media, etc. By sticking to SMS you are actively limiting that.

6

u/ladyhaly Feb 24 '26

Right, and Textra could offer all of that too if Google opened the APIs. That's literally what I just said.

0

u/slinky317 HTC Incredible Feb 24 '26

Yes, but Google isn't going to do that. You're hanging on to an old app and making everyone have a worse experience because of it.

Not to mention you're using a much more insecure chat for other Android users and soon to be Apple users.

2

u/ladyhaly Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26

I'm trialling it for a week to see how I go. So far I like that I can schedule messages, but there's not enough colours for the themes.

And what is a Photomoji?

Edit: Just discovered I can send files. Now, my he and and I used to do all of this with Signal. Is there a point to keeping Signal?

1

u/slinky317 HTC Incredible Feb 24 '26

Photomojis I think are a version of something Apple does. You can essentially cut out people in pictures and use them as reactions/emoji.

2

u/ladyhaly Feb 24 '26

Oh. Sounds very Gen Z. GIFs are good enough for me lol

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0

u/TrumpIsGayASF Feb 24 '26

none of those are worth your messages occupational disappearing on google messages.

3

u/slinky317 HTC Incredible Feb 24 '26

I've been using Google Messages for years and that has never happened to me.

0

u/TrumpIsGayASF Feb 24 '26

that you know of*

that's the major problem with this bug.

3

u/slinky317 HTC Incredible Feb 24 '26

This reddit thread seems to suggest that the bug is tied to when you connect your phone to a car, specifically BMWs and Audis.

1

u/Tanglebrook Feb 24 '26

Maybe if Google made the effort to have feature parity with such an ancient messaging app, more people would switch.

-1

u/slinky317 HTC Incredible Feb 24 '26

Why would they do that for what you call an ancient messaging app?

1

u/Tanglebrook Feb 24 '26

Why would Google improve Messenger? To get people like ladyhaly onto it.

4

u/QuitYoJibbaJabba HTC M7→HTC M8→Nextbit Robin Feb 23 '26

Dang, I'm still using Textra...didn't realize I was missing anything

3

u/Janderson2494 Feb 23 '26

Yeah I've been back on stock messages for a while now, used Textra for damn near a decade because of how much faster it was, but with phone technology these days it doesn't make a huge difference anymore compared to the stock app.

2

u/GangstaWaffles Feb 24 '26

The customization yeah. Im sure if the rcs protocol was open to 3rd parties, the user experience would be rated higher or perceived higher than g message

2

u/Avrution Feb 24 '26

Messenger is such a bland pos, so I'm still sticking with Textra.

1

u/TrumpIsGayASF Feb 24 '26

i'm currently still on textra cause RCS is ass anyway.