Google rolls out group chat end-to-end encryption for Messages app

SAN FRANCISCO: Tech giant Google has rolled out end-to-end encryption in group chats for Messages app users enrolled in the beta programme.

The company said it has "completed the rollout of group chat end-to-end encryption for users in Open Beta" in just over a month, reports 9to5Google.

With this feature, one-on-one texts sent using Messages by Google will be encrypted so they are private and secure and can only be seen by the sender and recipient.

The Google Messages app already includes end-to-end encryption when messaging someone who also has the RCS (Rich Communication Services) chat features enabled, however, this has so far been limited to messages between two parties and not group chats.

The tech giant said it "will be available to some users in the open beta programme over the coming weeks", according to the report.

The group conversations will feature a "This chat is now end-to-end encrypted" banner, and the send button will have a lock icon.

This will prevent Google or third parties from reading the contents of users' RCS chats during transit between the sender and receivers, said the report.

Meanwhile, Google also started testing full emoji reactions in its Messages platform, which allows users to react with any emoji.

However, full emoji reactions have already been rolled out for some users.