The one major thing that many iOS users never fail to bring up in the Android VS Apple debate is iMessage. Well now it seems that the argument is about to be outdated as Android adopts the future. Android Messages product manager Sanaz Ahari has now confirmed that the Rich Communication Services (RCS) rollout completed on December 9th in the U.S. But users will have to make sure that the Android Messages and Carrier Services are up to date.

Hi everyone! RCS is now available to all users in US as of Monday. Make sure to update both Messages and Carrier Services.

— Sanaz (@sanazahari) December 12, 2019

While it isn’t exactly the same as Apple’s iMessage, RCS does seem relatively similar. It’s basically WiFi chatting, and has the ability to send high-quality photos and videos, typing notifications, actual control for group chats, and read receipts. It however, is not as secure as iMessage as it doesn’t have end-to-end encryption, so that’s something to keep in mind. Considering it’s still kind of an SMS, that’s to be expected. And another to consider is that while it’s great that Android to Android messaging seems to have been solved, it’s very unlikely that Apple will be adapting the messaging standard anytime soon.

However, don’t be too eager to switch over just yet Malaysian fans, as Google has mentioned that the tech is, as of now, only available in France, Mexico, UK and the US. But I’m confident the feature will come to us sooner or later, so stay tuned!

Chat features are available in France, Mexico, the UK, the US & across multiple carriers globally. We are working on bringing chat features broadly to more regions, carriers & other messaging apps (e.g. Samsung Messages) For more information, see our FAQ: https://t.co/icfk0QDgJw

— Made By Google (@madebygoogle) December 14, 2019