As someone who values privacy, or in other words someone who is a bit paranoid, I prefer not to communicate via insecure communication channels. Since I don’t live in a population of n=1, this means I have to use many different communication platforms to get some semblance of security. As a result, my conversations are currently divided between Signal, WhatsApp, and most recently Google messages.

I started using Google messages because of its support for end-to-end encryption. Using it gave me an opportunity to end-to-end encrypt more of my communications at the cost of giving Google more control of my digital life. Since I trust Google more than I trust the myriad of carriers and unknown third-parties in charge of relaying SMS messages, I figured that using Google messages to upgrade some of my SMS conversations with end-to-end encryption was worth it.

Under the hood, Google messages uses RCS, which is a communication protocol like SMS. Unlike SMS, however, RCS supports many of the features people have come to expect from text messengers: group chats, typing indicators, emoji reactions, read receipts, and high-quality images and videos. Suffice it to say that I was a bit shocked when Apple announced that they were implementing—and then actually implemented—support for RCS on their phones, especially since it works against Apple’s vendor lock-in with iMessage.

There’s a small problem with this, though: the RCS standard doesn’t have support for end-to-end encryption (yet). Google’s end-to-end encryption is non-standard and only works if both parties use Google messages. This wasn’t really a problem until recently, when Apple decided to roll out RCS support without end-to-end encryption. This means that RCS messages between Google messages and iPhones are protected by transport-layer encryption, but lack end-to-end encryption.

Instead of supporting Google’s non-standard end-to-end encryption mechanism, Apple pledged to lead an effort to add end-to-end encryption to the RCS standard. We’ll see if they hold true to their promise, especially since they have an incentive to make iMessage more secure than RCS. Apple has also been accused of deliberately making the RCS experience on iPhones worse than that of iMessage.

In addition to Apple’s possibly malicious compliance, RCS has other, more fundamental, problems. For example, one serious limitation of RCS is that there is only one implementation of RCS available on Android: Google messages, which requires a Google account. There are no viable open source or third-party implementations, nor is there an Android API like there is for SMS, and Google seems intent on keeping it that way. This is a problem for digital autonomy, since Google may decide on a whim that your Android device is not secure and doesn’t deserve the privilege of RCS, as it recently did for many GrapheneOS users. It also means that those who want RCS on Android must put up with Google messages’ annoying AI “enhancements” like the Gemini button. At least the Gemini button can be hidden, though; unlike WhatsApp’s Meta AI button.

Another problem with RCS is that it is dependent on a phone number. This means that in order to use RCS, I have to have an active phone number subscription with a carrier. This is also true for messengers like Signal and WhatsApp. iMessage, however, allows you to register with only an email address, which ironically would make iMessage the most accessible mainstream messenger platform, except that you need to have an Apple device.

Not only is RCS dependent on a phone number; it is also dependent on the carrier your phone number is enrolled with. Before Google messages will allow you to use RCS, your carrier must first opt-in to RCS support. This is despite the fact that Google runs most, if not all, of the RCS servers. As a result, some carriers may opt to deny RCS coverage since they prefer to make money from charging for SMS access. This also means that RCS is likely to see little adoption outside the US, where there is little demand for RCS.

Despite these drawbacks, RCS is worth it if only for the possibility of making end-to-end encrypted text messages the default across platforms. I’m optimistic that RCS will eventually replace all insecure SMS communications, at least in the US. However, it might be a while before that future ever comes to fruition. Maybe we’ll eventually get end-to-end encrypted phone calls, too. One can dream.