Summary

  • Google expands RCS support in Japan for Messages users, ensuring seamless media sharing.
  • Apple concedes to RCS support pressure, set to include it in iMessage by 2024.
  • Google faces challenges in Gemini integration with RCS, but remains committed to interoperability.



While there are a number of different instant messaging platforms to choose from, not all of them play nicely with each other. Due to a lack of interoperability, it can be challenging to share anything more than text with others, assuming you’re using different platforms. Apple has perhaps been the biggest perpetrator of this problem, although it intends to eventually bring support for rich communication services (RCS) – the standard for sending high-quality media between apps – to the iPhone. Now, it seems that Google is already prepared to extend RCS support for Messages.


Person holding phone with RCS chat settings on display

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Google has announced that RCS support will be expanding to Messages users in Japan. Currently, the company is working with KDDI – the country’s telecom operator – and other partners to make this venture a reality. The goal is to ensure that users don’t run into issues when exchanging high-quality media with other people, such as videos and photos.


Apple’s battle against RCS support

While Google has been on top of its development of RCS support for apps like Messages, other Big Tech giants have steered away from it, including Apple. With iMessage, the company has more or less started a war between its users and others who do not have access to the app. However, pressure from the European Commission has resulted in Apple conceding, with RCS support coming for iMessage at some point in 2024.


Google Messages featured header

As Google continues onward with its expansion of RCS support, there is still plenty of work to do. For instance, the support has debuted in Gemini – the company’s AI darling – but it isn’t seamlessly enabled right off the bat. First, you need to manually activate RCS support, and the language must be set to English (or French in Canada) to work within Gemini. This means it’s limited to North America-based users for the time being as well. Gemini in Messages still lacks access to past chats, which could’ve made the AI chatbot more useful in terms of its relevant replies. Clearly, there are still some kinks that need to be worked out, but Google should receive some credit for making interoperability a priority.