GrapheneOS reveals plans for RCS support and secure paste

GrapheneOS is best known for taking away Google’s unnecessary reach into Android. But as the project matured, its ambitions started expanding beyond the operating system itself. To prepare for that next chapter, GrapheneOS is now stepping up work on the everyday apps and features users still rely on elsewhere, including a redesigned Messaging app, plans for RCS, and a new secure way to paste sensitive information.

The first of these changes is already taking shape. GrapheneOS says it is preparing a new release of its Messaging app with a completely overhauled interface built using Android Compose. The update also includes a “massive amount” of other improvements and bug fixes.

But the redesigned interface is only the beginning. GrapheneOS also wants to remove one of the biggest remaining dependencies on Google’s apps by bringing RCS directly to its own Messaging app. GrapheneOS already supports RCS, including end-to-end encrypted conversations, through Google Messages. However, the project ultimately aims to enable users to use RCS without relying on Google’s app.

That transition won’t happen all at once. The team plans to initially recreate the part of RCS currently handled by Google Messages, then implement those pieces itself and eventually rely directly on carrier services where supported.

At the same time, GrapheneOS is working on a secure paste feature designed to replace traditional clipboard access. The idea is simple: an app shouldn’t be able to read sensitive information another app copied just because it’s still sitting in the clipboard.

With secure paste enabled, apps can still read clipboard data they themselves placed there, but they can’t access content copied by another app. Users can paste through the standard selection toolbar, keyboard, accessibility services, and shortcuts.

GrapheneOS has also accounted for apps built with Flutter, which can use their own selection controls. Its default keyboard will include a Paste button for these cases, and the feature is also planned for the project’s replacement for the AOSP Keyboard.

And the app overhaul doesn’t end there. GrapheneOS says it is completely replacing the outdated AOSP Gallery and plans to overhaul or replace other AOSP apps.

These changes mark a broader shift for GrapheneOS. The project is no longer focusing almost entirely on the base operating system: it is increasingly building the apps and privacy controls around it, reducing the parts of the Android experience where users still have to depend on Google.