A Google executive is extending an open hand to help Apple adopt RCS, a new communication protocol called Rich Communication Services to iPhone and iPad, that would replace standard SMS and offer improved cross-platform messaging capabilities.
In a tweet, Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google’s senior vice president of Android, said that “group chats don’t need to break this way,” referring to a sub-tweet about the inconvenience Android and iPhone users have in communicating via messages. Alluding to the RCS protocol, Lockheimer goes on to state there is a “Really Clear Solution” and that he is offering an “open invitation to the folks who can make this right,” with the “folks” in question being a reference to Apple.
Google has been rolling out RCS for the past several years, and in July, all three major carriers in the U.S. pledged to adopt RCS, which, compared to SMS, offers support for higher quality photos and videos, audio messages, improved security, and better group chats.
With RCS, Android to Android messaging communication will become fully end-to-end encrypted. In contrast, Android to iPhone communication often referred to as the “green bubble,” will be less secure due to Apple’s unwillingness to adopt RCS.
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