What’s up guys, I’m ThioJoe.
And forgive the sarcastic title, but seriously if you didn’t know, there has been a MAJOR
new feature rolling out across all Android phones having to do with a new generation
of text messaging on Android.
And based on the research I’ve done, it doesn’t require any specific version of
Android, so it’s not like you need to update android to get it.
And it should work on all US carriers too, with international support coming.
The feature I'm talking about is essentially a new texting platform called RCS which stands
for “Rich Communication Services”.
I’ve actually talked about this in the past, it’s been something Google has been working
on for years, and it’s finally being rolled out.
And like I said, you can think of it like “next gen” texting that replaces the ancient
SMS text message platform, and adds lots of new functionality very similar to how iMessage
works on iPhone, if you’re familiar with that at all.
So let’s go over how to enable the feature, and then we can go over the benefits.
The first thing to understand is lots of phone manufacturers have their own default text
message app, and it must support RCS if you’re using theirs, which most don’t yet.
So you’ll probably need to download Google’s “Android Messages” app which comes with
stock android phones and use that.
I believe Samsung has also support for RCS too though.
Anyway, to enable RCS in Android Messages, first make sure the app is up to date through
the play store, then you just need to go into the options and look for “chat features”.
It will probably have you type in and confirm your phone number, and then you’ll see more
options for stuff like typing indicators, read receipts, and “chat messages”, which
with that one you can see can use wifi for texting.
So this is basically the Google equivalent of iMessage.
With Samsung, assuming your app is up to date, you’ll apparently also have an option in
there for “advanced messaging”, at least according to Verizon’s website.
Unfortunately I don’t have a Samsung phone to verify this with, so your mileage may vary.
But worst case scenario, you should be able to just download the Android Message app no
matter what phone manufacturer you have.
Another thing I’ve read, but might not be the case anymore, is that if you are trying
to enable RCS on a non-pixel phone, you might have to download the “Carrier Services”
app from the Google Play store.
It is an official Google app so it’s not sketchy or anything, but it may be necessary
if it’s not pre-installed on your phone already.
And you can see on the app store page it does mention it allows support for ‘enhanced
messaging features’ which is another term being used for RCS.
So you may also see it marketed by other companies under names like “SMS+”, “Message+”,
“Advanced Messaging”, “Enhanced Messaging”, or even just “Chat”, or something similar.
From my understanding, phone carriers themselves have not really been offering RCS support
even though they all promised they would.
So for now, it seems Google is taking on the load for the platform, kind of like how Apple
does with iMessage.
Then apparently when carriers actually start rolling out RCS on their own networks in 2020,
the switch should hopefully happen seamlessly in the background.
Now as for what features you get with RCS, there are several.
Like I mentioned, there is support for advanced functionality like read receipts, typing indicators,
also higher quality images and videos so they won’t be shrunk down to a postage stamp
when you send them.
It also supports messaging over WiFi and data which is great in situations where you don’t
have a cell signal, but do have access to WiFi.
There’s also improved functionality for group text messages, like being able to name
group chats, and the ability to add or remove people from groups.
Though I should point out RCS does not offer end to end encryption like iMessage, and also
RCS is not compatible with iMessage either.
So if someone on an iPhone texts someone on Android, they’ll still show up with a green
bubble, even if they use RCS.
The final important note is that these RCS features will only work if the other person
you are texting has also enabled this feature in the messaging app, assuming they’re using
one that supports it.
You’ll be able to tell if someone has done this because their text message bubbles will
show up as blue.
Also at least for now, when you go to send a message, it will say “Chat Message”
instead of “Text Message”.
Because this is such a new feature, and an optional one at that, don’t be surprised
if you don’t see many people with blue bubbles using this.
But the good news is if you know they use Android, you can tell them about this feature,
and if they use either Android Messages or Samsung, it’s trivial to enable.
I also believe Google will be making this new feature more prominent over the next few
weeks and months, so people will find out about it.
And I’m sure lots of phone manufacturers will start enabling this feature on their
own proprietary apps, so they can promote it as a feature to customers.
Another cool related feature having to do with Android Messages is, if you didn't know,
you can actually send text messages from the web, if you go to “messages.google.com/web”.
Then you can use a QR code to link your phone to the web app.
This should allow you to not only send RCS messages but also text messages from your
computer.
So if you do have access to this new feature, there’s really no reason NOT to enable it
if you use an app that supports it.
And even if you use a third party app like Textra which is really popular, you can still
be aware of it, because I’m sure those apps will start adding the feature soon enough.
You even also be the cool friend who introduces friends to this awesome new feature and impress
people if they don’t know about RCS yet.
Because realistically most people probably haven’t even heard of it yet.
But anyway this was more of a short video, but if you guys want to keep watching, I highly
recommend a video I made recently talking about 10 ways to make your Android phone faster,
which I think you’ll really like.
So I’ll have that pop up right here, you can just click on that.
So thanks so much for watching guys, and I’ll see you in the next video.