Last month, Google announced that it would fulfill a long-time feature request in its RCS client. End-to-end encryption in Google Messages is now rolling out for some beta users.
In mid-November, Google announced the security feature alongside the global availability of its direct RCS solution. E2EE means that the contents of a chat cannot be read by anybody as it’s sent from sender to receiver.
Google is initially enabling end-to-end encryption for one-to-one conversations. It will be on by default with no option to disable and past chats automatically upgraded, thus resulting in a very privacy-first stance from Google. Besides RCS/Chat needing to be enabled, both parties have to be on the Google Messages
beta.
Once it’s rolled out, the “Chatting with [contact]” banner will feature a lock icon. That gray symbol will also be displayed next to timestamps and delivered/read indicators, as well as on the send button.
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