Years after running on its platform, AT&T is finally shifting its RCS backend to Google’s Jibe platform for better functionality.
AT&T users have long complained that their RCS messages with other devices aren’t working as expected, with some unknown interoperability issues. These would be sought now as the telecom company is shifting its backend to Google’s Jibe, which also pushed new features instantly.
Migrating Resources For Better Functionality
Rich Communication Protocol (RCS), the new-age communication standard, is being heavily pushed by Google through its services, while its partner OEMs also support it. In the US, top telecoms like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have been supported since 2019, but with certain conditions.
AT&T, for example, has been running the RCS messaging on its servers all this time. While it’s good to see the telecoms taking up charge themselves, this created some interoperability issues – as AT&T users complain. These could be the breaking of end-to-end encryption in messaging services or the messages lost/delayed in transit.
Thus, to avoid all these, AT&T is shifting its RCS backend to Google’s Jibe this week. This move was announced by Google’s senior vice president of Android, Hiroshi Lockheimer, on Twitter, where he stated the change means AT&T customers will get the latest RCS features “instantly.” This should solve any interoperability issues reported till now.
At I/O, we announced more than 800M people are currently using RCS, and we expect to hit 1B by the end of the year. Adopting modern messaging standards helps bring us all closer together and improves user privacy.
— Hiroshi Lockheimer (@lockheimer) June 9, 2023
Google, in its I/O 2023, said that over 800 million people use RCS globally, with this number expected to cross 1 billion by the end of this year. Yet, a major OEM – Apple, stands as a hurdle. The Cupertino-based company has long been neglecting RCS on its devices, even though Google is aggressively mocking it.
This is because Apple’s stance breaks the core functionality of RCS – sending end-to-end encrypted messages between parties, as Android users sending RCS messages to iOS users go with encryption.
