Google Messages can now keep group chats with up to 100 people private and secure
Google is heavily pushing RCS as the next big thing to replace text messaging in the US. To win over users and topersuade Apple to adopt RCS for iMessage, Google addedend-to-end encryption (E2EE) for 1-on-1 chats in the Messages appin June 2021. A year later, in May 2022, the companyteased E2EEcoming to group chats in Google Messages, with thefeature finally rolling out to beta members towards the end of the year. One limitation of Google’s implementation was that E2EE in group chats was restricted to 21 people. That’s changing now, with the limit seemingly being raised to 100 people.
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The new limit makes a lot more sense since RCS has a limit of up to 100 people in a group chat, so all your conversations will remain private and secure. This change will also give Google Messages an edge over iMessage, which supports E2EE for group conversations with up to 32 people. Signal is far ahead of the competition, though, and supports E2EE with up to 1,000 people.
For now, E2EE for group chats in Google Messages is only available to members who are a part of the beta program. If you are not a part of the beta, you need to wait until Google opens more testing slots in the program or rolls out E2EE for group chats to the public. Until that happens, consider checking out some of the otherencrypted messaging apps for Androidif you want to keep your conversations private and secure.
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