RCS messages are about to look a little different on your Android phone

By Patrick Hearn September 10, 2024

Google Messages app on a Pixel 8 Pro, showing an RCS Chat message thread. — Joe Maring / Digital Trends

You might soon see a change in how your messages look on your Android phone. Google Messages is rolling out a change to how the type of message is displayed. At present, it says either “Text message” or “RCS message” at the bottom, but the new change will shorten these to either (Text) or (RCS).

9to5Google’s Abner Li reports the change and points out that the phrasing could be reduced to either Text or RCS to streamline the appearance and make it look less technical. That said, only a limited number of people have reported the change so far. Google has a tendency to roll updates out slowly, however, so that’s not surprising.

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At present, there are two main message types for Android devices: the ubiquitous text/SMS messaging, or a system called RCS. That’s short for Rich Communication Services. It’s similar to iMessage and enables features like read receipts, file sharing, and more.

Google messages indicator change — u/RW-One

Google has poured a lot of its attention into the appearance and interface of its apps lately. Just a few days ago, we talked about an update to Gboard that made it more foldable-friendly. Before that, another update was discovered that makes it easier to customize the home and lock screens of Pixel devices.

While this change is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, it further emphasizes Google’s commitment to making the Android platform more readily accessible and approachable for new users, especially those coming to Android for the first time from iOS.

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