Google Enables RCS on All Devices running Google Messages (US)

[Zodiark1593]

6 hours ago, mr moose said:

We have several different people who take charge of dispersing information over smaller groups, It is the only way we can guarantee that people get the message.  We have tried many other apps and options,  even just plain old email but people still missed notices.    It is shit and definitely annoying.  Especially when there are apps out their like team app that if everyone just signed up to we could literally halve the amount of work our volunteer managers/coaches have to do.  

 

 

I remember replying to a group sms with "thanks for that",  and it went to everyone,  so someone who didn't have my number got a random sms thanking them, it was amusing for us but demonstrative of the issues involved in using such a basic messaging service.

I feel your pain somewhat (similar issue, drastically smaller scale). Pretty much everyone in my family but myself uses iMessage. Group messaging and video calling are quite common among them as well. As I have MMS set to download manually (pretty sure MMS presents vulnerabilities if I remember correctly), group chats are a semi-broken royal pain in the rump. Obviously, Facetime is out of the question on Android.

[hobobobo]

5 hours ago, Sauron said:

Telegram is superior to Whatsapp, I didn't say anything about Signal.

 

But I will say that asking most people to compile their own messaging app is not reasonable. I'm also not exclusively talking about privacy here (not that Telegram has bad privacy options); Telegram is an extremely complete platform with a bunch of well integrated features.

 

The Telegram client is also completely open source, so you can check the encryption implementation yourself in case you're not convinced, and I tend to trust non profit organizations more than megacorps like Facebook.

TG, while great, is not a non-profit. Its made by the creator of vkontakte (CIS facebook) after his business, lets say, was aquired by the mail.ru group. At the moment monetisation is meager but they are aiming at releasing a coin to serve as a in-app currency, ive had an invitation to join early buy-in ~1,5 years ago, but the idea seems kinda meh. They were denied by the FTC a few months ago since their coin didnt comply to some standarts, now they are reworking it. To speak to Durovs integrity, they offered refunds at 0,7/1, i think, but almost none of the investors took it, so there is at least investor confidence.

You will see telegram being a more agressive corporation in some time, after their coin fails/is only worth 50% of the estimate, since the time when it was a "revolutionary" idea is gone and fb, baidu and tencent are all making their own coins for in-app usage. Its kinda what happened to vk before mail.ru takeover, they were ramping up ad services and revamping their content policy, since at the time it had kinda the greatest collection of music and videos on the russia web, torrents aside. In the end they still needed to be profitable. Mail.ru aquisiton just made the process way faster, but Pavel Durov aint a saint, perhaps his brother is))

[amdorintel]

23 hours ago, iKingRPG said:

RCS is the SMS replacement made by Google that allows for things such as read reciepts, see when people are typing, work over wifi/data, and higher attachment sizes, so wayy better pictures.

gosh, so now google will know everything about your receipts, and your SMS, attachements, pictures.

more profit streams for google

 

 

[Kawaii Koneko]

  

On 11/16/2019 at 3:16 PM, FloRolf said:

Why do people even care when whatsapp is a thing? 

Here in Germany quite literally everyone uses that. 

Why would I want to have install an app and create an account, then get other people I know to use it, when I could just send a text? It makes zero sense to me.

 

On 11/16/2019 at 4:13 PM, Ryan_Vickers said:

More proprietary garbage we don't need.  Who is still using text messages for primary communication?  And let me guess, this won't support Apple devices just like iMessage doesn't support Android?  

I still use text because why not? I don't need a separate app to tell someone I'm at the meet up point or ask if they want to meet up for pizza. I think that's dumb. If I want to have a meaningful conversation with anyone I personally know beyond a text, I'll call. 

 

Also, text is universal so I don't have to worry about which OS someone is using. As long as I know their number, I'm good.

 

On 11/16/2019 at 1:18 PM, iKingRPG said:

I couldn't find anyone else posted this, so here.

RCS is the SMS replacement made by Google that allows for things such as read reciepts, see when people are typing, work over wifi/data, and higher attachment sizes, so wayy better pictures.

edit: half of my post was deleted, let me add it back

The only thing of use for me is being able to text via WiFi and better attachment size. Seeing when people are typing and receipts are mostly going to be a nuisance. Then I have to deal with people expecting a response right away because they know I read their message. I hope this can be disabled.

 

As for this whole group chat thing, unless I'm at a PC with a keyboard, I don't want a chatroom or IMS like experience. I'd rather not be roped into that on a phone.

[Bitter]

I just want an android version of Pidgin with OTR, but I think the only people on the planet using that are myself and my friend who is a privacy focused lawyer.

[iKingRPG]

On 11/16/2019 at 3:16 PM, FloRolf said:

Why do people even care when whatsapp is a thing? 

Here in Germany quite literally everyone uses that. 

Because in the US 95% of people use SMS or imessage

And in the US SMS just works.

On 11/17/2019 at 2:48 AM, LogicalDrm said:

@iKingRPG

This thread has been moved to General Discussion. Please edit OP to fit Tech News requirements and report it to the staff so we can move it back.

Actually I had sources and everything but it didnt post, ill add them and make it fit tech news

[iKingRPG]

On 11/16/2019 at 1:33 PM, TetraSky said:

Hell it's about time. Can't wait for it to be available in Canada and for everyone to be on it.
I just hope it's retro compatible with regular SMS for those who don't have an updated device and that carriers stop being jerks about it.

If someone doesnt have RCS, it just sends as SMS.

[LogicalDrm]

4 minutes ago, iKingRPG said:

Actually I had sources and everything but it didnt post, ill add them and make it fit tech news

You are still missing quote which would summarize this thing.

[iKingRPG]

Just now, LogicalDrm said:

You are still missing quote which would summarize this thing.

ill try to fix it, sorry

[iKingRPG]

On 11/16/2019 at 4:13 PM, Ryan_Vickers said:

More proprietary garbage we don't need.  Who is still using text messages for primary communication?  And let me guess, this won't support Apple devices just like iMessage doesn't support Android?  Can people please just wake up and pick up Telegram or one of the dozen things like it already that has offered this and more for years already and is completely platform agnostic, even on desktop devices?

Google designed it as a universal protocol, and Apple could easily add it but they obviously wont at least for a while. Literally anyone could support RCS. Just like SMS is universal.