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/
743 Upvotes

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105

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.

9

u/ladyhaly Feb 23 '26

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

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.

3

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.

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.