Google RCS Celebrates 1 Billion Users, Brings New Features to Messages

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 30 November 2023, 08:11 pm

A massive milestone was reached by Google Messages and its RCS feature, with the company claiming that it already sees 1 billion users globally using the service and its technology. In celebration of this new feat, the company brought new features available for users to access on the renowned app, offering more communication features to enjoy when using Google Messages.

For a long time, Google has advocated and campaigned for RCS and its wide adoption in the tech landscape, allowing more to seamlessly communicate to and from Google Messages.

Google's RCS Celebrates 1 Billion Users for Messages

(Photo : Google Blog)

The latest press release from Google claims that its revolutionary RCS feature found on the Google Messages app saw it reach the 1 billion users mark, seeing the massive adoption of the app and its service across the world. Google also claimed that their years of hard work in pushing the mobile industry into adopting RCS is now reaping its bounties, with this significant milestone.

In the post, Google showed off the new features on Google Messages and claimed that it is celebrating the 1 billion user achievement by the company.

The Mountain View giant also commends Apple for their announcement two weeks ago regarding their adoption of the RCS, towards a brighter future.

What are the New Features on Google Messages?

Google showed off seven new features to enjoy with the Google Messages update, in celebration of its 1 billion mark.

This includes the arrival of Photomoji which will transform images into reactions, through Google's AI. There is also the Voice Moods where recordings may be sent with an applicable emotion.

Screen Effects also bring massive animations to the chat conversation, auto-generated from specific keywords. Moreover, Google also debuts Custom Bubbles, Reaction Effects, Animated Emoji, and Profiles to the Google Messages app.

Google Messages and the RCS Push

For a long time, Google has wanted Apple to adopt RCS for its iMessage service, and this would effectively allow a different experience on the mobile, especially for text and chats. Apple's iMessage is still based on SMS and MMS, and Google called this an "outdated tech" already, with many companies joining Mountain View's campaign towards its adoption.

For a long time, Google Messages has delivered exceptional experiences for users who have it on their Android phones, and it essentially allows a chat-like messaging service right on the mobile. Earlier this year, Google added an emergency satellite texting feature for Google Messages, and it aims to offer the same feature iPhone 14 Pro devices and later had previously offered.

With Apple already onboard the RCS adoption which will come in the future, there are many possibilities present for Google and what it has to offer. That being said, its new milestone is not an easy feat, taking the company years to achieve this breakthrough of 1 billion users for the service, and at the same time, wants to celebrate it with the world via the latest features.