Google has added new features to Android. Our smartphones will become more… “iPhone-like”

For a long time, Google has been trying to end the era of SMS once and for all. The successor of this technology is RCS (Rich Communication Suite), an encrypted communication standard that has many more possibilities. RCS is embedded in the default Messages application in Android, and users of smartphones with this system can, among others: see that the recipient has read your message or is composing a reply, create group chats or send large photos, videos and gifs.

RCS already has one billion users. Google will add new products straight from… iOS

Google boasted that the RCS protocol already has one billion users around the world. This is a great result, especially since we have been using the technology relatively recently. On the other hand, RCS is enabled by default in the Messages application pre-installed on Android smartphones, which must have resulted in a large number of users. What is more interesting, however, is the fact that Google decided to add a handful of new features to the Messages application on this occasion.

The app will receive as many as seven new functions, most of which are quite clearly associated with functions well known from iMessage on iOS smartphones. The first is support for the so-called “photomoji”, i.e. the ability to transform your own photos from the gallery into emoticons. Google boasts that with the help of such a processed photo we will later be able to react to the messages we receive.

News from Google. We will personalize profiles and chats

The second new feature concerns voice messages. The company will allow you to mark them with emoticons so that the recipient knows what to expect before listening to the message. There are nine patterns to choose from, which, according to Google, are supposed to reflect our emotions. The company also declares that it has improved the sound quality of such messages.

Additionally, Messages will support full-screen effects that appear in the app (e.g. snow or hearts) as a background for messages. There will also be an option to give a separate color to each chat, as well as animated emoticons and additional effects when adding them. The most interesting new feature, however, is probably the ability to personalize your user profile (name and photo), which will be displayed to message recipients next to your phone number. Google claims that the function will be useful when the recipient has not saved our number. The new products will be available now (after updating the application).

Apple implement RCS support

It is worth recalling that Apple bowed to pressure, among others. Google, Samsung and the European Union and promised to implement RCS support in iPhones. Apple smartphones currently only support an internal, closed standard that provides similar capabilities in iMessage. However, it only works if all members of the conversation are on iOS phones. RCS is expected to hit iPhones at an unspecified date “next year.”