Google is starting to roll out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for messages sent over RCS using the Google Messages app. The feature provides security and privacy by ensuring that messages cannot be intercepted and read in transit between phones, not even by Google or mobile carriers. Google is rolling out the feature in phases, starting this month with one-to-one messages (not group chats) sent between users who are both using the public beta version of Google's Messages app. Under those conditions, conversations are automatically upgraded to use E2EE. Separately, Google announced the expansion of its own RCS service (for carriers that do not yet support RCS) to all countries globally. RCS is an open industry standard for rich messaging similar to iMessage. Apple's iOS does not yet support RCS.


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