GSM Association is “excited” to bring Apple and Google closer together, but encryption is  still  lacking.

No More Barf-Green Bubbles?

What’s the craic? Rajesh Pandey reports: Encrypted RCS texting between iPhone and Android coming soon

“You might have to wait a while”
With RCS support, iOS 18 brings a huge upgrade to the cross-device Android and iPhone messaging experience. It enables users of both devices to share high-quality media and enjoy features like read receipts and typing indicators.
…
However, RCS chats between Android and iPhone lack end-to-end encryption (E2EE). … RCS (Rich Communication Services) chats on Android support E2EE. This is thanks to Google’s Jibe backend, which uses a Signal add-on to encrypt conversations. The current RCS Universal Profile, as adopted by Apple, does not support [it].
…
The GSM Association is working on adding interoperable end-to-end encryption. [But] there’s no timeline. … So, you might have to wait a while to enjoy a more secure cross-platform messaging experience.

I feel like there’s some missing context? Stephen Schenck obliges: There’s more work to be done

“Messaging Layer Security”
This week has been a big one for mobile connectivity: … With the release of iOS 18, Apple users en masse are beginning to communicate via RCS, the modern messaging standard intent on creating a feature-rich, level playing field for everyone. For Android users who have long felt like second-class citizens in the eyes of their blue-bubble friends and family, this is one advancement that’s been a long time coming (even if those green bubbles aren’t going anywhere).
…
Our next question might be how this new support could be likely to take shape. We’ve already been following Google’s interest in Messaging Layer Security (MLS) — a protocol that doesn’t just support E2EE between individuals, but can secure group chats just as well. … While we’d say that looks like a very solid possibility for how E2EE in the Universal Profile could be realized, right now neither the GSMA nor … Google is saying anything very specific.

What’s it going to take? Tom Van Pelt, the GSMA’s technical director, calls it “a New Chapter for Mobile Messaging:”

Anywaaayyy. It’s Anuj Ahooja o’clock, yeah it’s @quillmatiq-thirty: [You’re fired—Ed.]

We’re getting close to a point where secure messaging will be the default no matter what platform you’re on or who you’re messaging. It’s about damn time.

And this is finally the end of those barf-green bubbles? Sasparilla hopes so:

At that point it’ll be time to go to a different color bubble for encrypted messages. iChat got blue bubbles with encryption, guessing they’ll still want Blue for branding but Purple might not be bad for encrypted RCS.
…
Google had hosed all their prior chances at a default messaging app in Android and this was their last chance to not just have SMS as the base. … They got everybody in the U.S. and some other countries to line up on it, which is good for everyone as it raises the base messaging standard from the 1990s to the 2000s.

It’s a start. But ΖΞΓΘ CΘΘL has zero interest:

I don’t use iMessage for security or privacy, I use it because that’s what most of my contacts use. … You’re looking for a fix to a problem that doesn’t really exist.
…
If you’re going to be that paranoid then I assume your cloud account is encrypted client side so [Apple] can’t see your information. … You’re either paranoid all the time or none of the time, you don’t get to pick and choose.

Will Apple actually follow through? _xeno_ doubts it:

This has nothing to do with Android interoperability and everything to do with China telling them to add RCS support. … Which is why you’ll note that iOS RCS doesn’t work everywhere yet. Apple is intentionally slow-rolling it, refusing to work with smaller carriers and insisting that they implement things on their backend to make it work, despite Android working just fine as-is.

Get off the fence. standardUser holds no bars:

iMessage is a scam. A marketing tool designed to create social friction, mostly among minors, to sell more phones. Any company with a shred of decency would let people … use the service on any hardware.

Meanwhile, with a global perspective, here’s JippaLippa:

Completely irrelevant in Europe. Here it’s WhatsApp town. All the people I know with an iPhone never used iMessage once.

And Finally:

Lady Miss Kier, Q-Tip and the Mar-Keys

Previously in And Finally

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