What you need to know
- Google highlighted issues users have reported with media texts for RCS chats in Messages.
- The company is rolling out a few updates for Messages that should solve media reception “slowdowns” and “failures” that users have recently reported.
- Google recently brought enhanced scam detection measures to Messages and the Phone app in its March feature drop for Pixels.
Users should soon find relief for a recent string of issues plaguing RCS texts in the Messages app.
In a recent Google Messages community post, the company highlighted that it has started addressing instances of failed media texts in RCS chats (via 9to5Google). The community manager states Google’s team has been “actively working” toward a fix and several updates are being rolled out to (hopefully) solve the problem. Google is specifically targeting “receiving performance.”
Aside from text failures, Google is also looking at tackling media text “slowdowns,” which should help your device download media (image/videos) at a more acceptable speed. The thread states that these updates should provide a “noticeable difference;” however, the current wave of patches might not solve everything.
Google notes how complex these issues are and users who are still experiencing problems should let them know.
There’s speculation that the updates Google is rolling out are server-side improvements — which would make sense. However, keep your eyes peeled in case something more substantial arrives via a Play Store update.
The media issues are a sore spot on an otherwise useful Google Messages update that dropped at the beginning of March. The company recently rolled out its feature drop for Pixels, which brought enhanced scam protection measures to the Messages and Phone app. Each app leverages Google’s AI to automatically detect and flag potential malicious users. For texts, the AI will scan messages for “commonly associated with scams” and alert you to them within the thread.
Users can quickly report and block that user without a second thought to protect your data.
Meanwhile, we’re still awaiting Google’s promised 911 RCS texting capabilities with authorities. The company first teased this feature last summer, stating users could text emergency services and send them videos/images to help the location efforts. While this was planned for “the winter,” we might be much closer to it than we think.
