Google tries publicly shaming Apple into adopting RCS

Google is launching a new public relations campaign today to persuade Apple to adopt RCS, the cross-platform messaging protocol that's intended to be a successor to SMS and MMS. The search company has established a new "Get The Message" website with a similar set of reasons for why Apple should support the standard, which revolve around improved communication between iPhone and Android phones. Naturally, there's also a #GetTheMessage hashtag so you can really get those viral juices flowing.

The issues Google describes are most familiar to most people as green bubbles in Apple's Messages app that indicate Android users' notifications. When texting an Android user, the iPhone app utilizes Apple's own iMessage service (which includes modern features like encryption, group chats, and high-quality picture and video transfers), but they revert to conventional SMS and MMS instead. Not only are these messages displayed in a garish green bubble, but they also violate several of today's messaging standards that people have come to rely on.

To address this, Google has been dropping a number of subtle hints in recent months asking Apple to support RCS, which provides most (but not all) of the functions of iMessage using a standard that works on both iOS and Android. The company also said it expects "every mobile operating system" to adopt RCS at its annual developer conference this year, as well as in various tweets throughout the year.

The current situation has a lock-in effect for consumers, so Apple has everything to gain. It creates seamless communication (just between iMessage users) and transforms Android's green bubbles into subtle class indicators. It's why Apple executives privately acknowledged that bringing iMessage to Android would "hurt [Apple] more than help us."

The slow and piecemeal roll out of RCS hasn't helped Google's case. The original method of rollout, which was reliant on carriers to include support, wasn't great. However, things have improved since Google took command in 2019, allowing RCS to be readily accessible almost everywhere across the world. This year even saw Samsung's biggest Android manufacturer switch to using Google's own RCS-friendly Messages app by default in its Galaxy S22 series.

Last year, Apple extended its iMessage encryption to include group chats. In one-on-one messages, it has been gradually getting feature parity with iMessage's encryption. It now supports end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in one-on-one chats, and E2EE in group chats is scheduled to come later this year. So will Google's new marketing push be the thing that finally persuades Apple to provide RCS support on its phones? Given Apple's large incentives not to play ball, I have to concur that the company's chances don't appear good. RCS adoption by Apple now seems about as likely as the United States suddenly abandoning iMessage and adopting an encrypted cross-platform messaging solution like WhatsApp or Signal.