Google introduced it’s going to begin rolling out end-to-end encrypted group RCS chats to the Google Messages beta over the following few weeks. Google’s messaging app has supported encryption for one-on-one conversations for some time now, however it is a massive step for feeling assured that the majority of your conversations can’t be learn by carriers or Google.

In an announcement post on Friday, Google stated the function will probably be “available to some users in the open beta program over the coming weeks,” so it could be a second earlier than it’s typically out there. Google additionally formally introduced that it’s engaged on a function that’ll allow you to use any emoji when reacting to an RCS message; the corporate was noticed testing this final month.

While Google’s announcement put up is styled as a farewell to SMS messaging, most of us gained’t have the ability to ditch it that simply, as Apple has to this point refused to deliver the tech to iOS. (Tim Cook even advised one individual that a greater resolution is simply shopping for their mother an iPhone.) Google acknowledges this and takes a couple of photographs at its competitor, ending its put up by saying, “all of the major mobile carriers and manufacturers have adopted RCS as the standard – except for Apple,” and that Apple’s use of SMS “means their texting is stuck in the 1990s.”

It’s the most recent in a principally one-sided feud between Google and Apple over RCS, with the Android maker seemingly making an attempt to publicly disgrace Apple into adopting the usual, arguing that it could make issues higher for everybody.

The thought has typically been that Apple’s iMessage is an honest competitor for iPhone customers, although that will not be the case for for much longer; given Apple’s stance on privateness, there’s been some concern over the truth that iMessage’s end-to-end encryption may very well be defeated should you or the individual you’re speaking to has iCloud backups on. If Google Messages’ RCS group chats don’t have that drawback, it, together with choices like WhatsApp and Signal, which have been increasing the ambitions of encrypted group chats even additional, is likely to be a greater possibility for most individuals.