Google has announced that Rich Communication Services (RCS), the new standard in messaging, has crossed a billion mark and to celebrate the milestone, it is launching multiple features on Messages.
RCS, replaces the outdated SMS and MMS protocols, and enables users to experience a modern and secure messaging experience with typing indicators, read receipts, threaded replies, high-quality media sharing, improved group chats, better privacy like end-to-end encryption and more with RCS.

Google praises Apple for adopting RCS
Google said there are more than one billion monthly active users with RCS enabled in Google Messages. It also praised its partners for advocating for RCS and said that it is “pleased that Apple also took their first step two weeks ago in announcing that they’re embracing RCS.”
Google Messages getting Photomoji
Photomoji allows users to use photos as reactions and the feature takes the help of on-device Google AI. Users can simply select a photo from their gallery, choose the object they like to turn into a Photomoji and hit send. These creations will be saved in a special tab for reuse.
Voice Moods, plus improved audio quality
This feature is rolling out across Android devices and will add a moving emoji theme to voice messages. More importantly, the company has improved the overall audio quality of voice messages by increasing the bitrate and sampling rate.
Screen Effects
Screen Effects will add vibrant animations to messages. For example, if you type “it’s snowing” or “I love you”, the screen will show an animation. Google says there are over 15 hidden Screen Effects prompt words.
Custom Bubbles
Google already uses Bubbles to inform users about messages they have received. The company will now allow users to customise the bubble colour and backgrounds.
Reaction Effects
Reaction Effects are similar to Screen Effects but they will spark smaller animations with emojis. So if a user has used a thumbs-up emoji, the screen will show a large animated emoji made up of three large thumbs-up emojis that are moving around on the screen. This feature is available for popular emojis: 👍❤️ 😂😮😡👎💩🎉😠😢.
Animated Emoji
Animated Emojis are similar to the ones available in WhatsApp. Some emojis like “heart” will be sent as an Animated Emoji that sparkles or like a beating heart.
Making edits in Profiles
With the Profiles feature, users will have the ability to personalise their profile name and picture that accompanies the phone number. This will address the problem of receiving messages from phone numbers not saved in the contact list and it comes in handy during group chats.