RCS Is Not Always More Secure Than SMS

If you have something important to say, don’t say it over SMS. This messaging protocol has been around for decades, and yet, despite advancements in features and security, SMS is still very much with us. Luckily, its successor, RCS, is finally starting to replace it, offering a better messaging experience with the added convenience of greater security. Still, don’t just assume that your chats are secure just because they’re over RCS.

RCS, like SMS, is a messaging protocol, but it includes many of the features you’d expect to find in any modern chat application. It supports high resolution media sharing, typing indicators, better group chat integration, and, most importantly, encryption. Under the right circumstances, RCS chats can only be read by the parties involved. Any interceptors will find themselves with a scramble of code, rather than easy-to-read messages.

SMS, on the other hand, is totally unencrypted. That means all your texts can be viewed in plain text by anyone who knows how to snoop on them. It’s not such a big deal for simple tasks, or for basic conversations. But if you’re texting sensitive information, like confidential details, you won’t want to choose SMS for your communications.

That said, you can’t assume your RCS chats are always encrypted, either. While the platform supports encrypted messaging, it won’t support it for all chat situations just yet. For example, when texting over RCS between iOS and Android, messages are not encrypted. The same goes for RCS over many chat apps. Right now, in order to take advantage of RCS’ encryption, all parties need to be messaging with Google Messages. You’ll know it’s working if you see a lock icon that reads “RCS chat with [your recipient’s name].”