Google Messages may stop working on some Android from April onwards. It will only affect non-certified Android smartphones, such as those from Huawei, but it is an important detail because it is a basic native app for a smartphone.
Google Messages may stop working on some Android phones
Immersed in recent times in a process of lightening the core of Android, the truth is that Google does have a good number of apps and basic services that for many are essential in their Android phones, and now separated from the core of the system are installed packaged or separately from Google Play Store as long as the device in question has Google certification.
One of these apps, in fact, is as important as Google’s messaging manager, simply called Messages and downloadable for free from Google Play, which integrates with the RCS standard of the operators to become an essential SMS and MMS application and that, according to 9to5Google, could soon disappear in all these phones without Google Play certification according to the codes found in their latest versions.
And yes, it seems that Google will start to be a little more restrictive with these uncertified devices because according to the Mountain View giant, the security of these terminals is not verified and can compromise users. It is even worth remembering here that Google itself warned some time ago that Huawei users should not download Google Play Services on their phones for this very reason.
In the specific case of the Google Messages app, inform you that it will stop working next March 31 in terminals without Google Play certification, perhaps because of the end-to-end encryption in messages, which could be compromised in terminals that do not validate their security standards.
The Google Messages application, the SMS and MMS manager with full integration with the RCS of the operators, will stop working on March 31 on Android smartphones without Google Play certification.
What is a Google certified smartphone?
Surely by now some of you are wondering what the hell is a certified smartphone, and it is very simple to explain it to you starting from the fact that Android is an Open Source operating system, which by its nature can be modified and used by any manufacturer for their devices.
This applies in fact to the Android base, which is called Android Open Source Project, but not to Google’s services and applications which, as we mentioned earlier, have recently been separated from the core of the operating system, requiring Google Play certification for their download, installation, and use.
This certification is performed by Google itself with the manufacturer in question, reviewing aspects such as security or compliance with the terms of service, and allowing or not the installation of Google Play Services and other apps and services either natively and pre-installed in the factory or by the user himself through the app store, which is precisely the basis of all these Google services.
Returning to the case of Google Messages, the truth is that this change is probably irrelevant for most since it was not a native or pre-installed application on most Android devices, so only users who have installed and use it will be affected if they have a Huawei Android terminal or any other without Google certification.
Messages version 7.2 itself, which will be released very soon and is currently in beta, is already alerting users of this policy change so they can prepare in advance for March 31.
