{"id":353381,"date":"2020-05-25T09:12:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T07:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=353381"},"modified":"2020-05-25T09:14:26","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T07:14:26","slug":"googles-sms-replacement-to-get-end-to-end-encryption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/353381-googles-sms-replacement-to-get-end-to-end-encryption.html","title":{"rendered":"Google’s SMS replacement to get end-to-end encryption"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google Messages is reportedly working on end-to-end encryption for RCS messages, according to 9to5Google<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This follows investigations into a build of Google Messages version 6.2 which was leaked by APKMirror<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“While we\u2019re still actively looking through the many changes found within, one in particular stood out \u2014 end-to-end encryption for RCS messages,” said 9to5Google.<\/p>\n

“In fact, there are a total of twelve new strings in the app that make reference to encryption,” it said.<\/p>\n

RCS messages<\/h3>\n

RCS messaging comprises a range of standards to replace traditional SMS and MMS on Android devices.<\/p>\n

Improvements over traditional SMS technology include support for group chats, video chats, calls, and the sending of high-quality images.<\/p>\n

Users can also send read receipts (the equivalent of the “blue tick” feature in WhatsApp) and see when someone is typing – all features that users have come to expect from messaging apps.<\/p>\n

RCS is currently only available in a few countries, but the goal is to have it replace SMS globally on Android devices.<\/p>\n

Encrypted RCS<\/h3>\n

Details are limited on what the requirements would be for sending an encrypted message, 9to5Google said.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s possible that both parties will need to be using the Google Messages app, though this could change once more apps gain support,” said the report.<\/p>\n

However, 9to5Google said that both the sender and recipient will definitely need to have a strong Internet connection for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to be transmitted successfully.<\/p>\n

“If either of you has a poor connection, Google Messages will offer to send your message through SMS or MMS as a fallback method,” it added.<\/p>\n

9to5Google also found that Google Messages plans to implement additional security measures to protect end-to-end encrypted RCS messages – including whether other apps can see your encrypted messages.<\/p>\n

“As all of this is only just beginning to appear in a \u201cdogfood\u201d build of Google Messages; we still have a bit of waiting to do before end-to-end encryption arrives for RCS,” said the report.<\/p>\n

“That said, it\u2019s clear Google wants RCS to be a legitimate competitor to iMessage.”<\/p>\n

Now read: WhatsApp and Twitter in the firing line over privacy<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google Messages is reportedly working on end-to-end encryption for RCS messages, according to 9to5Google.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341039,"featured_media":270941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[52177,59913,61543],"class_list":["post-353381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-9to5google","tag-google-messages","tag-rcs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341039"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353415,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353381\/revisions\/353415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}