Microsoft has partnered up with Samsung in order to bring RCS messaging to select smartphones from the company. What do we mean by that? Well, Microsoft and Samsung will bring RCS support to the Your Phone app on Windows 10.
RCS already works on the Galaxy S20 series thanks to the Your Phone app
What does that have to do with Samsung, you may wonder. Well, RCS messaging will work when you use the Galaxy S20 with the Your Phone app, for example. It is a part of the partnership between the two companies.
Some of Microsoft’s applications come pre-installed on the Galaxy S20 smartphones, including the Your Phone app. OneDrive is integrated into Samsung’s Gallery application, while Microsoft is selling Samsung smartphones via its stores, both online and physical.
Your Phone app support for RCS messaging has been announced by Roberto Bojorquez, a program manager over at Microsoft. He’s in charge of Your Phone app, amongst other things.
Mr. Bojorquez said that RCS support only starts with the Galaxy S20, which implies that other phones will get the same support soon. Other Samsung-branded phones, that is.
Some users immediately asked if the Galaxy Z Flip works with the Your Phone app as well, and the answer is no, not at the moment. Johan Lannstra, a software engineer over at Microsoft, confirmed that.
The Galaxy Z Flip will almost certainly be one of the first phones to get this support, after the Galaxy S20 series. We’re presuming that pretty much all modern Samsung smartphones will support it, in time.
Those of you who are not familiar with RCS, it stands for Rich Communication Services. RCS is basically envisioned as Android’s competitor to Apple’s iMessage, though it has a long way to go.
RCS relies on smartphone manufacturers and carriers, even though Google started intensively pushing it. It is supposed to make it possible to communicate via SMS applications.
Google’s Messages app already supports RCS, in some regions
Google’s Messages app supports RCS, but only in select regions. It is supported in the US, and several countries in Europe. This support is expected to spread out to other countries soon, though. Thanks to RCS, you’ll be able to use your SMS applications to essentially communicate as you would via WhatsApp, Viber, and so on.
If RCS ever becomes a standard, it will be quite a powerful service. What do we mean by ‘becomes a standard’? Well, in the future, it is expected that pretty much every SMS application will support RCS, and thus make it available on all Android phones by default.
Apple is not expected to adopt RCS, though it could happen, who knows. The thing is, Apple would cripple its iMessage service by adopting RCS. On the plus side, though, that would benefit consumers, as you’d have one platform to communicate with pretty much everyone who owns a smartphone (Android or iOS).