Google says all U.S. users should now have RCS enabled

RCS messaging Source: Android Central

What you need to know

Google has finally completed the process of rolling out RCS to users in the U.S.
The company is well ahead of its previous promise of broad availability by the end of the year.
Updates to both Google Messages and the Carrier Services app may be required to enable the new chat experience.

Earlier in the week, we reported on an update to the Carrier Services app that enabled RCS for Verizon users. As it turns out, the feature update applied to all remaining users in the U.S. who didn't have RCS yet, allowing Google to complete its rollout much earlier than its previous estimates. As Google's Communications Suite Lead Sanaz Ahari announced on Twitter:

Hi everyone! RCS is now available to all users in US as of Monday. Make sure to update both Messages and Carrier Services.
— Sanaz (@sanazahari) December 12, 2019

While Ahari suggests updating Carrier Services may be essential to getting the new chat experience, some of the responses to her tweet show users receiving RCS functionality even without the Carrier Services update. Either way, it's probably best to cover your bases and do as the lady says: get the latest versions of both Google Messenger and Carrier Services.

Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines

What about the rest of the world, you ask? Well, someone did ask Ahari the same thing. A cryptic "stay tuned" was all she gave us non-Americans.

If you live in the U.S., though, you'll now have an iMessage-like experience on your Android smartphone, which means you can see when someone's typing a response or if they've received/read your messages. You can also send larger multimedia files than was possible with the old MMS standard, and you can do so using your internet connection, without accruing additional charges. Quite the upgrade over SMS, indeed.

What is RCS messaging, and why is it important to Android?

From the Editor's Desk

Google's giving up too much ground in the smart home fight

We're in the thick of our fall launches, but after the tidal wave of new products from Amazon last week, Google's Launch Night In looks like it'll barely make a splash. That's not good, because Alexa and Ring are rapidly gaining on Assistant and Nest.

Au clair de la lune

Luna is both a safe bet and Amazon's best idea in years

Is "rolling your own" Netflix-style game library what we really want? Amazon thinks so.

Now we're getting somewhere

Google's parent company settles shareholder lawsuit over sexual misconduct

Following sexual misconduct reports from 2018, Google has settled a shareholder lawsuit and announced major changes to how the company operates in these regards — including no severance packages for employees fired over sexual misconduct.

theme it yourself

Spice up your smartphone or tablet with the best icon packs for Android

Being able to customize your device is fantastic as it helps to make your device even more of "your own". With the power of Android, you can use third-party launchers to add custom icon themes and these are just some of our favorites.