Wear OS watches might soon be able to send RCS messages without your phone’s help | Infinium-tech

Google has been pressuring Apple to adopt RCS for years and when Cupertino relented (probably when it became clear that the EU would get involved), Google still had the audacity to poke fun at Apple. But maybe Google should focus on its garden instead of trying to be humorous.

Did you know that Wear OS smartwatches with LTE can’t send RCS messages? Well, they can’t – RCS messaging from the watch only works when it’s connected to a phone. This will change with an upcoming update to the Messages app.

In the teardown of Google Messages v20240926 beta, Android Authority The team discovered some flags that lay the groundwork for standalone operation of RCS messaging on Wear OS watches.

bugle.capable_wearable_standalone_rcs
bugle.enable_wear_standalone_rcs_settings
bugle.capable_wearable_standalone_voice_message

Note: “Bugle” is the internal name for Google Messages.

It appears that the watches will be able to handle not only standard text messages, but also voice messages sent over RCS. This means you’ll get rich messaging when you leave your phone at home (assuming, of course, that you have an LTE-enabled watch).

It’s unclear whether this update will help non-LTE watches — it could make a difference in cases where the watch loses connection to your phone but is still connected to Wi-Fi. We will have to wait and see.

Source