Google did not make RCS; RCS is made by GSM consortium as succession of SMS, Google extended it to add some extra features such as end to end encryption (but only when messages are routed through their servers).
China mandated 5G sold in China must support RCS, hence why Apple added support for this. Since Google is basically banned in China, you can pretty much bet RCS going into/out of China is going to be unencrypted.
So you’re basically stuck between getting inferior unencrypted messages, or routing everything through Google.
Avoid RCS like the plague.
Thanks for the info. I adjusted that section a bit, probably should more effort into the edit. Will read up on it some more in near future.
My point about the simplicity of using the “stock*” messesing app is still relevant for non-tech people. Grandpa doesn’t want 6 different messesging apps. The easy phone number/pre-installed/near-universal/moslty cross-platform nature of them is a huge advanatge. Only downside, it has a pricy subscription called “the phone bill”.
*i say stock in this case to pretty much include any app that uses your phone number and accepts sms/mms from another phone. For most people, thatll be the stock message app their phone comes with.
