Hey, Android users! Some good news for you – Google just made a pretty neat change to its messaging service. In a blog post shared this Tuesday, the tech giant revealed that Google Messages will now automatically encrypt your texts when messaging between Android phones. Before this, you’d have had to select the encryption option manually.

Many of our favorite chat platforms, like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and Apple’s iMessage, already encrypt messages by default. So, Google’s just catching up to the gang with this move. However, there’s a little hiccup when it comes to iPhone and Android messaging. The iPhone uses iMessage as its go-to messaging service, which isn’t available on Android. So, if you’re texting between these two devices, there’s still no encryption. The pro tip? If you’re keen on keeping your chats with iPhone buddies encrypted, best to stick with third-party messaging apps.

Behind the scenes, there’s a bigger play going on here. Google’s not just tweaking its encryption settings for fun. This change is part of a bigger effort to champion RCS, which stands for rich communication services. Remember the good ol’ days when a simple SMS was all we needed? Well, as we started wanting more – like sharing photos, videos, and longer messages – SMS felt a bit… old school. This shift is what pushed Apple to roll out iMessage in 2011, which can handle heftier messages by passing them through Apple’s servers. One of the quirky side effects? Android texts to iPhones show up in those green bubbles.

But here’s the thing – the tech world thinks it’s about time to bid adieu to SMS. RCS is looking like the heir apparent. Big players like Google, Samsung, and various phone carriers are giving RCS a thumbs up. But Apple? They’ve been playing hard to get, saying their users aren’t really clamoring for RCS. Plus, as some juicy court files from the Apple vs. Epic Games drama showed us, iMessage’s exclusivity is a big reason people stick with iPhones.

All in all, exciting times for Android messagers! Let’s see how this shapes up in the broader phone messaging arena.