“The Google Messages app just passed 1 billion downloads on the Play Store. It’s not uncommon for a Google-made app to hit this total, but for Google Messages it’s significant. Let’s talk about why.”
Twitter turns off its original SMS service in most countries
“For the most part, you can no longer use Twitter as it was originally built to be used: over text message. Last week, Twitter turned off the ability to receive SMS messages containing the text of new tweets. The feature was disabled in all but “a few countries” that rely on the feature.”
Google is working on end-to-end encryption for RCS texts in Messages
“RCS is supposed to be the spiritual successor to classic SMS and MMS texting, but the lack of built-in encryption puts a damper on that — someone could theoretically snoop on your messages where they can’t with services like iMessage. You might get your privacy after all, though.”
Signal: We’ll be eaten alive by EARN IT Act’s anti-encryption wolves
“Recent weeks have been rough, with droves of people turning to virtual communication for sensitive conversations they’d like to keep private – medical visits, seeing friends’ faces and hearing their voices, or solace for those who’ve lost loved ones.”
Google Play Services 20.15.13 prepares to add a page to list RCS/Chat apps
“Messaging in the U.S. differs majorly from the rest of the world. While apps like WhatsApp and Telegram have become the staple communication platforms in most countries, Android users in the U.S.”
Those RCS chat ‘hacks’ for Google Messages will stop working by the end of the month
“Before Google saved us all from the tyranny of the carriers, some enterprising folks worked out a sort of “hack” that enabled Google’s RCS/chat services, letting us all send messages with the futuristic protocol, even if we weren’t in one of the few supported markets.”
Google is rolling out RCS messaging without waiting for carriers – here’s what that means
“Almost two years after showing off the first glimpse of its Rich Communication Services (RCS), Google is rolling it out without waiting for carrier support.”
U.S. May Outlaw Messaging Encryption Used By WhatsApp, iMessage And Others, Report
“End-to-end encrypted messaging is a major issue for law enforcement—as the world shifts from easy to crack (for governments) cellular SMS messaging to various flavors of IP messaging, such as WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal and Wickr, governments are exploring their options.”
A Verizon outage is preventing ‘a ton’ of customers on the East Coast from texting
“The carrier’s customer support Twitter account confirmed the outage in response to questions and complaints from customers. The issue appears to have started at 8:30 a.m.”
‘Google to kill Hangout’: Allo, Duo and Android Nougat to blame
“Google’s popular messaging app Hangout will be phased out slowly after the launch of Android Nougat which will have a new inbuilt messaging app called ‘Allo’ and ‘Duo’. Allo and Duo are Google’s latest messaging and video chatting apps unveiled during Google I/O in May this year.”
