Google has been pushing Rich Communications Services (RCS) for years now, and today the company announced a partnership to help make RCS better for Android users.
Google and Samsung are teaming up to ensure that their messaging apps, Android Messages and Samsung Messages, work seamlessly with each company's RCS tech. This means that RCS features like chatting over Wi-Fi, typing indicators, group chats, read receipts, and high-res photo sharing should work between Google and Samsung's platforms.
As part of this partnership, Samsung is also committing to bringing RCS features to existing phones, starting with the Galaxy S8 and S8+. These features will work on carriers that support RCS. The full list of Samsung phones that'll gain RCS features includes the Galaxy S8, S8+, S8 Active, S9, S9+, Note 8, Note 9, and "select A and J series" running Android 9.0 Pie or later.
RCS greatly enhances the texting experience on phones that support it, making the built-in messaging experience more in line with popular services like WhatsApp. Support for RCS is still somewhat low on Android devices, but it's good to see Google and Samsung — two of the biggest players in the Android ecosystem — coming together to make RCS work better for their users.
Have you tried RCS messaging yet?