Microsoft and Samsung have long been partners for various projects. The former company's cloud storage and document editing apps have been a part of Galaxy devices over the past few years. Now, the firms are collaborating to bring support for RCS (Rich Communication Services) messages on Windows 10 computers via the Your Phone app, starting with the Galaxy S20.
The Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra are the first phones to bring RCS support for the Your Phone app on Windows 10. Roberto Bojorquez, Group Program Manager at Microsoft who oversees the Your Phone app, announced a partnership with Samsung on Twitter. He implied that more phones from Samsung and other brands would be supported in the future.
The brand new feature lets anyone using a Galaxy S20 series phone send and receive RCS messages right from their Windows 10 PC. However, the feature only works if the default SMS app on the phone is Samsung Messages. Interestingly, the Galaxy Z Flip doesn't support RCS messaging via the Your Phone app yet.
RCS is the spiritual successor to SMS and brings various advanced messaging features such as chatbots, chatting over Wi-Fi, group chat, high-resolution images and videos, mapping directions, typing indicators, and an ability to send and receive documents. It is a viable alternative to Apple's iMessage feature.
Samsung started supporting RCS on its devices three years ago and rolled out the feature to most of its phones in markets where carriers are supporting RCS. The South Korean firm has also collaborated with Google for RCS interoperability.
