Google Messages 'chat features'

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tanivula

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#275928 17-Sep-2020 09:12

Got this notification on my phone (today) and wifey's the other night to enable 'chat features'. Seems RCS is rolling out here in NZ? She's on 2deg and I'm on VF. Not that we SMS each other much, but it's cool to see/have the same features like whatsapp/FB messenger such as delivery status and message reactions.

A little late to the party (considering how little I use SMS) but nice to have I suppose!

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#2566667 17-Sep-2020 10:04

Another one... WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, Telegram, Signal, Viber, Line, WeChat, Teams - and the list goes on... Then add Google's Duo, Meet, Hangout (and Google Allo which was killed off). And Apple's iMessage.

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tanivula

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#2566709 17-Sep-2020 10:56

I guess it is, but at least it now brings the 'stock' Google SMS app in line with iMessage?

Means Pixels, Android One devices (eg Nokia) and manufacturers that ship with it as the default app (think OnePlus, Oppo devices) could utilise it if/when enabled.

Unfortunately Sammy and Huawei (big NZ market) ship their own SMS app but the messages app is freely available on the play store.

freitasm:

WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, Telegram, Signal, Viber, Line, WeChat, Teams - and the list goes on...

How many of this list can also be used for vanilla SMS? I think only FB Messenger?

freitasm

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#2566760 17-Sep-2020 11:43

tanivula:

I guess it is, but at least it now brings the 'stock' Google SMS app in line with iMessage?

Means Pixels, Android One devices (eg Nokia) and manufacturers that ship with it as the default app (think OnePlus, Oppo devices) could utilise it if/when enabled.

Unfortunately Sammy and Huawei (big NZ market) ship their own SMS app but the messages app is freely available on the play store.

freitasm:

WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, Telegram, Signal, Viber, Line, WeChat, Teams - and the list goes on...

How many of this list can also be used for vanilla SMS? I think only FB Messenger?

Signal does it. Huawei uses the Google Messages app (or used too on the old phones with Google Play support, now that Trump decided to screw things over).

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taneb1

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Mercury

#2566816 17-Sep-2020 13:41

I believe this is using Google Jibe (https://jibe.google.com/) - Google have been slowly rolling it out worldwide over the past 6 months , seen reports of users on Skinny also seeing this enabled yesterday.

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ripdog

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#2566875 17-Sep-2020 14:53

IMO RCS was dead on arrival due to the lack of E2E encryption. If we're going to go through the tremendous effort to replace SMS, why not go the whole way and implement a complete replacement? Sure, surveillance agencies would piss and moan, but F em.

Matrix is the better solution, sadly has little consumer-level buy-in. Still, major governments and businesses are rolling it out for internal use, which is indicative of the quality of the protocol.

KiwiSurfer

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#2566878 17-Sep-2020 14:55

tanivula:

Unfortunately Sammy and Huawei (big NZ market) ship their own SMS app but the messages app is freely available on the play store.

Xiaomi also ship their own SMS app with more recent models (e.g. Note 7). It's not great though, I was really happy when I found out I could get the stock SMS app from the Play Store instead! One feature I must have is the ability to archive SMS messages which the stock app has. I don't understand the point in their (e.g. Samsung, Xiaomi, etc) reinventions of the wheel. Is there any practional or functional features these stock apps do that the stock SMS app don't...?

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Linux

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#2566896 17-Sep-2020 15:19

RCS is dead!

robjg63

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#2566897 17-Sep-2020 15:19

taneb1:
I believe this is using Google Jibe (https://jibe.google.com/) - Google have been slowly rolling it out worldwide over the past 6 months , seen reports of users on Skinny also seeing this enabled yesterday.

I'm on skinny and enabled the chat option in Google messages, but it still says "your operator does not support this device".

Anyone actually on skinny with this now functioning?

EDIT: found reports on reddit of skinny users who had it working (and others where it wasnt). Possibly being restricted by phone make/model...

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KrazyKid

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#2566920 17-Sep-2020 15:59

I got prompted on my Hauwei Y5 2019 phone on Tuesday to enable the chat features on the phone.

My daughters Moto G4 also then allowed me to set it up on that.

We are using warehouse mobile (2 Degrees).

So that's one older phone and one running Android 10.
I guess it will be model dependent - must get around to see if I can set it up on my wife's Samsung S6.

PS don't judge me on the Y5 - it is a temp while my Pixel 3A is taking a month long Aussie holiday for a warranty repair - LOL

muppet

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#2567029 17-Sep-2020 16:42

I've got this enabled on my Pixel 1 (2D) but not on my Pixel 4 (Spark)

Seems to be a staggered rollout.

DeepBlueSky

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#2567112 17-Sep-2020 19:17

On my P40 pro through Spark

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lchiu7

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#2567269 18-Sep-2020 09:02

Nothing on my Pixel 4XL on Voda yet

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jonathan18

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#2567333 18-Sep-2020 10:12

Got the notification a few days ago (Galaxy S10+ on Kogan), but am yet to check my wife’s phone, given she’s the one it’ll be most useful using this.

I really like the app, and have gone back to using it after using Signal for a year or so. I get the advantages of Signal, but find the backup and restore really frustrating, like when switching phones. Now if only Google would bring back the widget for Messages I’ll be a totally happy camper...

Groucho

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#2567345 18-Sep-2020 10:34

freitasm:

Another one... WhatsApp, Messenger, Skype, Telegram, Signal, Viber, Line, WeChat, Teams - and the list goes on... Then add Google's Duo, Meet, Hangout (and Google Allo which was killed off). And Apple's iMessage.

Some serious communication app fatigue! It's such a fragmented market you need a pretty decent phone with some grunt to have all these apps installed and running. Miss the olden days when it was just SMS and email for media - you know, universal technology everybody has and without popup ads.

MurrayM

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#2567378 18-Sep-2020 11:38

tanivula:

Means Pixels, Android One devices (eg Nokia) and manufacturers that ship with it as the default app (think OnePlus, Oppo devices) could utilise it if/when enabled.

Unfortunately Sammy and Huawei (big NZ market) ship their own SMS app but the messages app is freely available on the play store.

I've got an Oppo A5 2020 and it came with its own Messages app which I promptly replaced with the Google Messages app. Unfortunately I can't remove the Oppo app and it has a permanent "1" indicator on it to show that there's an unread message. Nothing I do can remove the "1" indicator, even after I removed all permissions for this app. My last phone had the ability to disable stock apps but this new phone has the disable option greyed out; seems like Oppo don't like you disabling their stock apps.

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