Google Sacrificing Allo To Replace SMS With An iMessage Android Equivalent

Android smartphones have earned the reputation of having terrible SMS features for over 10 years. while iPhone users have been enjoying the iMessage for the better part of that same amount of time. In an effort to finally put its texting technology on the same level, Google has essentially abandoned its Allo messaging app to focus on creating what it calls Chat.

While Google is saying that it’s just “pausing” investment in Allo right now, the company’s track record on these kinds of things has been spotty, at best. For now, it seems the company is busy trying to get every major carrier in the world to jump onboard its new standard called the “Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services,” which is what Chat will be based on, The Verge reports.

As to what the new messaging service will actually involve, it seems Google is making the carriers it cajoled into following its lead create the iMessage equivalent that users have been asking for. There will never be an Android version of the iPhone’s built-in messaging service. However, it won’t matter if Google can somehow use a messaging platform that someone else built and claim it as its own.

On the other hand, it seems this might actually be a good thing for the users themselves. Instead of the traditional SMS format that has been the standard since the first text message was sent, messages using Chat will go through RCS, Gizmodo reports. It will basically be something like Messenger but sent via phone text instead of requiring an internet connection.

Unfortunately, end-to-end encryption will not be a thing with Chat, which makes conversations held over the service vulnerable to being intercepted by interested parties. This means that even with the kind of effort that Google is putting into this new endeavor, it’s still less secure than iMessage.