Is RCS an open standard? I’ve seen some people say it is and others it isn’t and now I’m very confused. Can you please give me a definitive answer?
The confusion stems from the fact there no APIs in Android that let apps use RCS. Only Google can use it on Android and no other apps can use it. Anyone can make an SMS app. Only Google can make an RCS app.
It is an open standard, meaning you are free to create your own operating system for phones that implements RCS. But Google doesn’t let you use it on Android, so in practice it’s closed.
Plus, Google’s implementation of RCS adds extra features (like encryption) that aren’t part of the standard. So even if you create your own operating system that implements RCS, it will still be incompatible. So that’s another reason it’s not really open.
That seems incredibly dumb and backwards. I guess doing it this way helps them expedite its death like all their other products lol
It would also let them claim that its an open standard that anyone can use and they’re contributing to open source, even if no-one could effectively use it in the same way that they implemented it.
It’s XMPP all over again.
I was about to say the dumb and backwards part was not having basic stuff like encryption in the standard. 🤷
So what, if RCS becomes the standard I’m going to lose the ability to choose what messaging app I use? I very much don’t like that.
This seems to imply that you need a fork of Android, if you’re to build a messaging app that uses RCS.
But my understanding is what you really need is essentially an RCS server.
To add to this, even if it were really fully open, like, say, Lemmy is, because it requires servers there’s the issue of being allowed on someone else’s server and whether servers are modified, and whether server owners want to interoperate and so on.
In some ways the RCS debacle has been similar to the Fediverse debacle about federating with Threads, or with undesirable servers. Even if the protocols are open there can still be bad actors.
Matrix is the federated messaging network. It’s also end to end encrypted, although people have pointed out issues with server security and with metadata—which is why they’re working on peer to peer tech.
RCS is not similar to any federated technology at all. It’s operated exclusively by Google in the US and most other countries. The technology was created, from the ground up, for carriers. But even carriers couldn’t actually make it work in practice, so they asked Google to take over. It’s a fucking albatross. We, as a society, need to drop it.
There is an RCS test app, we could theoretically modify that, but I guess nobody has for some reason. I don’t particularly want people to use it, Matrix makes so much more sense.
Doesn’t Samsung messages use it too?
IIRC Samsung has partnered with Google and uses Google’s relay.
It’s disappointing it takes a partnership.
Google is the exclusive RCS provider for all carriers in the US and many other countries. The desire for an AOSP android API is for developers to be able to write clients the way they do SMS clients, not to replace Google’s servers—that’s a pipe dream. IIRC, Google actually helped Samsung develop RCS support in their app. I’m not sure why it’s so difficult to implement.
It is an open standard. The end-to-end encryption is not an open standard, nor are the stickers, those are both proprietary to Google Messages but the rest is open.
Yes, RCS is an open standard developed by the GSMA.
However Google has their own implementation of RCS.
It’s kind of open. It’s pretty much open for carriers to implement on the server side, and for OEMs to develop on the client side. There is an open source client in AOSP’s RCS Test App, but for one reason or another, as far as I know nobody’s attempted to implement it in an actual usable client app. I don’t believe there’s a server reference implementation. And, in the US, all the carriers’ RCS services are run exclusively by Google, so there’s no real point in attempting to set up your own server. Apple might be able to navigate the politics with carriers and with Google to make something work, if it wants to, but it’s really not a standard for us to play with.
Use Matrix Instead.
Yeah, there are links to the standard on the Wikipedia page
No, not really
