14 DAY TRIAL // Google has just announced that it has replaced the Messenger application as the default app on Android smartphones with Android Messages, an RCS app. RCS is the next-generation messaging standard supported by a number of carriers and Google.
RCS is the successor of regular SMS, because it offers multimedia messages, read receipts and many more features compared to regular chat apps like WhatsApp or iMessage. RCS lets users send in-call multimedia content and allows the sharing of up to 10MB of high-quality picture messages even during video calls.
Google’s Head of RCS Amir Sarhangi told The Verge that Messenger was renamed to Android Messages in order to illustrate that it would offer full RCS support even from carriers. Users can download the application from the Play store, which means that it would receive timely updates directly from Google.
A number of OEMs are already on board, but not Samsung
Google will make Android Messages the default texting app, which means that a number of Android manufacturers have agreed to use Android Messages, rather than their own custom app. The list includes LG, Motorola, Sony, HTC, ZTE, Micromax, Nokia, Archos, BQ, LeEco, Kyocera, and Android One and Pixel devices.
Curiously enough, Samsung isn’t on the list and neither are a number of top carriers in the US, like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Carriers like Sprint, Rogers, Telenor, Orange, Deutsche Telekom, Globe, and Vodafone have agreed to offer support for the app.
Google is confident that the rest of smartphone makers and carriers will adhere to the idea in the near future, as support would spread. Until then, RCS messages sent to a phone or carrier that isn’t part of the RCS standard would fall back as regular SMS or MMS.
Google says that over 1 billion people will initially use the new RCS standard, while adoption is expected to gradually increase as more companies get on board. Truth be told, Google’s move comes as a surprise, especially since many were expecting Allo to become the default Android texting app, but it seems that Google has decided otherwise.