Reached for comment by The Verge, AT&T gave us a nearly identical statement. However, the owners remain committed to enhancing the messaging experience for customers including growing the availability of RCS.
![verizon att android messages rcs apple verizon att android messages rcs apple](https://chromeunboxed.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/verizonGoogleMessagesRCSdefault.jpg)
The owners of the Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative decided to end the joint venture effort. But while Synchronoss’ comment was noncommittal, Verizon and AT&T are now just telling it like it is. Light Reading reached out to the third-party vendor, Synchronoss, that was originally going to handle the back-end logistics for the CCMI app (RCS can be run through a carrier’s server, Google’s server, or a third-party server). Then, last month, T-Mobile announced a huge deal with Google that included switching Android phones over to Android Messages as the default RCS/SMS app. That acquisition happened and the one carrier that seemed enthusiastic for CCMI was subsumed into another. The CCMI promised a custom Android app from the carriers Plus, T-Mobile was barreling down the path towards acquiring Sprint. All the carriers seemed too busy hyping up 5G to give any real attention to the CCMI. However, after that announcement there was precious little information or movement. Google was not part of the CCMI announcement, either, which was very strange given that Google is by far the biggest booster for the standard.
![verizon att android messages rcs apple verizon att android messages rcs apple](https://m-cdn.phonearena.com/images/article/120787-wide-two_350/RCS-vulnerabilities-can-help-a-hacker-take-control-of-your-bank-account.jpg)
If you’ve ever used an app designed by a major US carrier, you know that’s a recipe for a bad experience. But the bad part was the consortium planned on creating an Android app themselves for messaging features. At the time, any effort by carriers to support proper cross-compatibility in RCS was a good sign. It initially seemed like a mixed bag of news. The CCMI was launched in 2019 and by all indications was a joint effort that was spearheaded by Sprint. Whether or not they will replace it with a good plan remains, as ever with RCS, to be seen. But while that might seem like bad news on the face of it, what it actually means is that carriers have given up on a bad plan that would have been bad for consumers. The CCMI was meant to be a joint effort to promote RCS, the next-generation messaging standard designed to replace SMS. There have been rumors for two years that it’s planning to.According to the telecom industry news site Light Reading, the big three US carriers are walking away from the Cross Carrier Messaging Initiative.
![verizon att android messages rcs apple verizon att android messages rcs apple](https://m-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/352932-940/13.2.2.jpg)
If Apple doesn’t adopt RCS messaging, The Verge says that this will make texting between iPhones and Android devices more difficult next year.
#VERIZON ATT ANDROID MESSAGES RCS APPLE PLUS#
The protocol allows the exchange of group chats, video, audio, and high-resolution images, plus read receipts and real-time viewing, and looks and functions like iMessage and other rich messaging apps. To make the service more valuable and competitive with popular, feature-rich messaging apps, smartphone manufacturers, carriers, and the cell phone industry’s governing agencies developed the Rich Communication Services (RCS) protocol (otherwise called RCS Chat), which is designed as a modern take on texting that rolls features from Facebook Messenger, iMessage, and WhatsApp into one platform. So what is RCS? Here’s a description from Digital Trends:ĭespite the popularity of SMS messaging, some people need more than it’s capable of providing. But what of the iPhone?Īpple has announced no plans to adopt RCS messaging yet. The Verge says it’s the final step for making RCS Chat - the next-gen standard designed to replace SMS - the default experience for Android.
![verizon att android messages rcs apple verizon att android messages rcs apple](https://m-cdn.phonearena.com/images/article/101725-1200/Google-and-Huawei-team-up-to-spread-RCS-messaging-all-Huawei-smartphones-to-get-Android-Messages-app.jpg)
Verizon will join AT&T and T-Mobile in preloading Android Messages as the default texting app on all Android phones it sells.