Google's QR code protection for chats in Messages offers a preview in beta

What you need to know

• A report states that a recent Google Messages beta has brought about the company's QR code-based verification keys on Android.
• The Android System Key Verifier is the backbone of this, enabling users to scan a QR code on each other's phones to ensure their texts are only between themselves.
• This feature was previously reported in November 2024 and was stated as a method to help users further lock down their RCS chats, so their texts remain between them and their contact.

Google's been reportedly working on a new way for users to safeguard their RCS chats, and it seems that work's appearing in beta.

A post by 9to5Google highlights the existence is a new Google Messages beta, which reportedly holds the company's new QR code-based key verification feature. While the Android System Key Verifier is the backbone of this, 9to5 states beta testers should find a "Security & Privacy" sub-menu when tapping "verify encryption" in one of your RCS messaging threads.

When going to verify, the post notes that users should notice a "verify keys for this contact" pop-up, which literally holds the key to your strengthened RCS chat safety. A prominent "Your QR Code" button sits in the center of this sub-menu, above which app/phone number the code will help verify and secure. The QR code works both ways, as users will need to have their contact scan the one on their phone and vice versa.

Alternatively, users can compare verification codes, which is pretty much the only thing you'd find currently in the Messages app if you were to verify chats.

The publication's testing also showed that the Android System Key Verifier will initiate scanning, and with a colorful viewfinder, at that.

Make sure it's the right person

We first heard about Google supposedly working on an improved way to verify your RCS chats back in November. The Android System Key Verifier is the catalyst behind all this, arriving as an app (that should already be on your device) capable of locking down your RCS chats with encryption keys. As 9to5 notes, Google's explainer about these keys says that they "help ensure only you and your contact can read the RCS messages you send each other."

Those keys are then shared via the QR codes that you and your friend/family member scan on each other's phones.

Last fall, it was rumored that these QR codes help to identify one another, ensuring that only you and the one you're texting have access to those messages. It was also stated that this feature would only work on devices running Android 10 or newer. Additionally, the real possibility of someone purchasing a new phone was highlighted.

If that happens, likely, the verification keys won't match anymore, pushing users to repeat the QR code scanning process. Since the feature's just been spotted in beta, we might be a couple of months away from it arriving. Android 16's QPR2 Beta 1 just dropped, maybe we're looking at that launch timeframe for this Messages feature around then, which would be toward December if anything.