GoKawiilIt has taken a long time for RCS to unify the messaging experience across Android devices first, then between them and between iOS. But we’re almost there now. Green bubbles notwithstanding, sharing messages between different phones and platforms is now a much more consistent and reliable experience without the need to use third-party apps like Telegram, WhatsApp, or Signal.
And Google Messages’ impact has been tremendous in getting RCS properly adopted. I notice this a lot, even in France, where WhatsApp is near ubiquitous. When I communicate with my friends or family, it’s WhatsApp; but when Samsung’s repair service wants me to send them photos of my broken TV, it’s through Google Messages. Yet, there’s still room to improve that experience, and the just-announced RCS 4.0 promises to bridge the gap even more and make Google Messages a more powerful messaging experience.
Which feature are you most excited to see in Google Messages? 21 votes Built-in video calling 52 % High-quality photo, video, and audio sharing 29 % Bold, italics, and rich text formatting 19 % Something else; us in the comments 0 %
Cross-platform video calling
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Video call support is one of the cornerstones of the latest RCS 4.0 standard. With it, apps that adopt the spec will not only be able to initiate cross-device and cross-platform chats and media sharing, but start and manage video calls too. Instead of Messages acting like a texting app that launches video calls in Meet or Video over LTE, it could become the video call app on its own, with native, integrated support. And when Apple adopts that, that should ideally mean no more FaceTime-this and Meet-that. I could just start a call with the person I’m talking to, no matter the platform, and not wonder whether they have the right phone or app to take it.
Going back to my broken TV, when I was on a call with Samsung’s repair center, they had to share a link with me via Messages that opened Chrome to start a web-based video call and show them what was wrong with my TV. It required a bunch of permissions, didn’t work at first despite me knowing what I was doing, and the support agent kept asking me to restart it to get the stream working. When Google Messages adopts RCS 4.0, this kind of workaround could and should be abolished. Companies would have the option to do native video calls, without resorting to bad third-party services.
Imagine video calling your friends or family members without worrying about FaceTime-this or Google Meet-that.
Outside the USA, we may not video call our immediate friends in Google Messages like this, but for random and necessary calls with companies, support and repair services, and the like, this promises to become the default go-to. In the US, the promise is even bigger with families and friends no longer needing to be part of one platform to talk to each other.
There’s no word yet on encryption during these calls, but we know they’ll come with some very cool features. Users can “late join” a group video call if they miss the initial invite; call logs sit right inside of the messaging app; and devices automatically identify the right codec to make sure both devices have the highest-quality call possible.
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