This is Google’s end game messaging app. They want to replace text messaging and Google hangouts/allo/chat… were never going to cut it.
Its a chat app that doesn’t look like one. It looks like the default sms app, you don’t need anyone to download or make an account for it. There biggest hurdle was getting iOS users. They’ve now pressed apple into supporting it as well. They even have Apple state Google will help with their installation. We know Google pay apple billions every year to keep Google search the default on iOS, it even binds Apple to publicly and in court support the arrangements. I wouldn’t be surprised if Google has paid billions just for RCS on iPhone. It will keep their marketing monopoly in place for a long time.
Jibe, maybe. RCS is just a telecom spec, like SMS and VoLTE are. If your carrier bothered to implement RCS, you can just use one of the alternative RCS apps (which won’t have Google’s proprietary encryption, of course)
Jibe is RCS. They are so dominant all other implementations will have to follow. So far only Google, Samsung and soon Apple can actually implement RCS practically.
I agree. You’re much better off just using Signal. It’s not federated/decentralized, but it’s all client apps, the protocol and the server code are completely open source and anyone can fork the project. It also works on every platform, its encryption protocol is the most secure one out there and it’s been around for over 10 years. They also recently added some cool new privacy features.
The thing is is that if MNO’s truly cared about running their own RCS network (instead of leaving everything to Apple and Google). It might actually be a more open system. Sure, you can’t self host an MNO, but it’s still a much larger step forward.
I always disliked RCS, I kept telling people it’s a walled garden, mainly controlled by Google
Even so you’d think they’d want to get as many people as possible on board with RCS to increase adoption, not fewer.
Then what they’re doing tells us all we need to know.
Google wants to control what data they can glean from RCS users.
This is Google’s end game messaging app. They want to replace text messaging and Google hangouts/allo/chat… were never going to cut it.
Its a chat app that doesn’t look like one. It looks like the default sms app, you don’t need anyone to download or make an account for it. There biggest hurdle was getting iOS users. They’ve now pressed apple into supporting it as well. They even have Apple state Google will help with their installation. We know Google pay apple billions every year to keep Google search the default on iOS, it even binds Apple to publicly and in court support the arrangements. I wouldn’t be surprised if Google has paid billions just for RCS on iPhone. It will keep their marketing monopoly in place for a long time.
Jibe, maybe. RCS is just a telecom spec, like SMS and VoLTE are. If your carrier bothered to implement RCS, you can just use one of the alternative RCS apps (which won’t have Google’s proprietary encryption, of course)
Jibe is RCS. They are so dominant all other implementations will have to follow. So far only Google, Samsung and soon Apple can actually implement RCS practically.
Where I live there’s a single ISP which doesn’t use Jibe. RCS is largely Google, and this likely won’t change with iPhones supporting RCS.
I agree. You’re much better off just using Signal. It’s not federated/decentralized, but it’s all client apps, the protocol and the server code are completely open source and anyone can fork the project. It also works on every platform, its encryption protocol is the most secure one out there and it’s been around for over 10 years. They also recently added some cool new privacy features.
Ok good. But then there’s the problem of actually convincing people to use Signal. A messaging app is pointless if nobody else wants to use it.
it’s a golden prison*
The weird thing is that so many people are buying into the Google and Apple marketing on SMS being insecure.
If you’re on an unroooted smartphone running stock OS, nothing you do is secure
Basically everything is more secure than SMS though. Security is a gradient, and never absolutel.
The thing is is that if MNO’s truly cared about running their own RCS network (instead of leaving everything to Apple and Google). It might actually be a more open system. Sure, you can’t self host an MNO, but it’s still a much larger step forward.