Anybody have a good source on what the heck RCS is? I've never heard of it until now. I will google also, but I bet someone knows of an introduction they'd recommend.
Wow, RCS seems pretty bad from a privacy standpoint.<p>The spec is available on the GSMA website [0]. The relevant section is 2.13.1.3 of "Rich Communication Suite 6.0 Advanced Communications Services and Client Specification Version 7.0-final draft" available in the specification ZIP.<p>TL;DR: Encryption seems to be included but for voice and video only. They have _deliberately_ compromised messaging security to be vulnerable to interception.<p>"SRTP [RFC3711] may be used to provide per message authentication, integrity protection and encryption for both RTP and RTCP streams involved in real-time video and voice sessions."<p>[...]<p>"[3GPP TS 33.328] defines two modes of operation for SDES/SRTP: e2ae (end-to-access edge) mode and e2e (end-to-end) mode."<p>"[...] the RCS client may try e2e [...]"<p>And:<p><Basic description of the messaging protocol><p>"When using MSRPoTLS, and with the following two objectives <i></i>allow compliance with legal interception procedures<i></i>, the TLS authentication shall be based on self-signed certificates and the MSRP encrypted connection shall be terminated in an element of the Service Provider network providing service to that UE. Mutual authentication shall be applied as defined in [RFC4572]."<p>[0] <a href="http://www.gsma.com/network2020/specs-and-product-docs/" rel="nofollow">http://www.gsma.com/network2020/specs-and-product-docs/</a>
Ick. I wish we could kill SMS/Whatsapp/Wechat/LINE already and just do everything over e-mail or some other cross-platform, multi-login protocol.<p>I hate being tied up to one device to message people. I change devices on the order of minutes, move over the course of a day between a few locations that all have devices I own, and don't regularly carry or look at my cell phone if I am already staring at something bigger (e.g. tablet/laptop/desktop/TV).<p>I enjoy e-mail/FB/skype/et al.'s ability to freely switch devices, switch OSes and continue your conversations extremely smoothly without any barriers. I want information to move with <i>me</i>, not with a silly phone.
My sympathy goes out to the Google engineers who had to write a new wiretap friendly texting app. I hope the snacks & massages are worth it.<p><a href="https://twitter.com/csoghoian/status/701854843057610752" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/csoghoian/status/701854843057610752</a>
As a long-time SMS user, getting widespread RCS support is the biggest future mobile phone innovation I am looking forward to.<p>SMS is wonderful because you can send a message to any mobile phone user regardless of their nationality, operating system, hardware, carrier, etc. However it has a few major flaws: cost, speed, lack of group messaging, limited multimedia support.<p>The shortcomings of SMS have fueled the rise of IP messenger apps like WhatsApp, Line, WeChat, Hangouts, and iMessage. These all have the features we want, but their major flaw are arguably even more severe: total lock-in and lack of interoperability. Once you have a majority of your communication networks on one of those protocols, you become dependent on a single for-profit company for your communication. Look at what happens to iOS users trying to switch to Android: iMessage blocks their communication for months afterward.<p>RCS will give us all the benefits of iMessage or WhatsApp but without being locked in to a single company's network or having to get all of your friends/family to adopt one or the other.
Given the clusterfuck between Hangouts and Messenger, and the painful process of getting Google Fi to work with shortcodes, I have little confidence in Google getting texting right. I want to be proved wrong, but I am not liking their track record here.
all of the messaging apps WhatsApp, LINE, WeChat etc are terrible in that they owe a lot of their rise due to users lack of comprehension of sms vs IP and carrier lockin etc etc.<p>However - google and messaging is just a messy, and they're pushing this now? How about sort out your Messenger and Hangouts mess and get all of that consolidated
Is this why Hangouts recently started advertising the Google Messaging app instead of the opposite? For the longest time, I was using Messaging but Google kept pushing me to Hangouts.
Another version of MMS so carriers can charge per message and organize paid scam services with ringtones and "RCS dating chats"? They're living in 2001.
Of note: Project FI has been plagued with short SMS issues for the past year. Some are reporting that this has been fixed, but does concern me if Google is going to get into this space.<p>I'm saying this as someone who is a Android advocate and developer.
This is a clear move against WhatsApp? With Jibe, Google is going for the kill, 'cause WhatsApp just went life-time free for everyone with an eye on earning revenue from their enterprise APIs.