What you need to know
- The latest Google Messages beta spills the tea on sending and receiving RCS chats on other devices.
- Users might be required to input their phone number and Google account to utilize the feature.
- Further digging seems to show this feature could arrive for Android tablets, but there's nothing stopping it from coming to phones, too.
Google is apparently working on a way to make it easier for users to interact with their RCS chats on multiple devices. AssembleDeBug's blog post references a couple of strings in the code that mention Google's intentions of using a user's phone number to make this happen, although the company may require your Google account to do so.
This would be ideal, considering users currently have to whip out their phones to scan a QR code when using the web version of Messages.
Aside from strings in the code that mention such requirements, nothing else is working. AssembleDeBug informs that there is no flag to currently get the feature working to any degree for a proper early preview.
Furthermore, another look at the beta's code suggests this feature could be specific to Android tablets since these devices utilize the web version of Messages. Of course, it's possible this exclusivity could be temporary as it would find use with those using more than one phone, as well.
Such a feature would finally see proper multi-device support arrive for Messages. The app currently does not let users access their chats on more than one device with the same phone number.
Google has continuously played a bit of catch-up with some of the other best messaging apps, and this new development is no different. WhatsApp rolled out multi-device support a couple of years ago, letting users link up to four devices on one account.
Since it's early, possible limitations for linked devices aren't known. Perhaps Google will follow the Meta-created app in requiring a "Primary" device to be set and only allow chat deletion from that device.
