Security News > 2020 > November > End-to-end encryption? In Android's default messaging app? Don't worry, nobody else noticed either

Google is rolling out end-to-end encryption in the unloved and unwanted Android Rich Communication Services, as part of a renewed hope people might use messaging services controlled by the Chocolate Factory.

The rollout seems to be a last roll of the dice for RCS, which began life as the telco industries' SMS killer - or, more prosaically, their belated response to the growth of over-the-top messaging services such as Blackberry Messenger and WhatsApp.

RCS was conceived to both replace SMS messaging and halt the growth OTT messaging apps.

While RCS is baked into the default Android Messages app, that is best known as the app which fields SMS messages and not the one you'd use for group chats, secure(ish) messaging or anything more upmarket than that.

Despite some sneering at mobile networks' "Incoherent and broken" rollout of RCS over the past few years, this pitch at the security-focused end of the market feels like a last gasp, a final throw of the dice before the slow, sad shuffle to the cashier's hatch while clutching that last sweaty chip, mumbling that just one more bet would have seen the odds swing in your favour.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2020/11/20/google_rcs_e2e_brouhaha/