Galaxy phones to soon get better voice message quality via RCS

RCS brings many modern messaging features found on messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp to the default messaging app on smartphones. In the future, it will get additional improvements, including higher-quality voice messaging, and it will come to Galaxy phones.

The GSMA, which oversees the development of the RCS Universal Profile, has announced some new features with a new release. With RCS Universal Profile 3.1, the audio decoding and encoding will use the xHE-AAC audio codec, which allows you to send and receive higher-quality voice messages and voice notes. Earlier, this codec was only used for decoding, which meant you could only receive high-quality voice messages.

The new RCS Universal Profile will improve how RCS apps connect to mobile network operators' services. Previously, apps needed a permanent active connection to the RCS network. In the future, the network may trigger a connection to the app when it has something to send, like an incoming message. This will make RCS behave more like Telegram and WhatsApp when a device switches internet connections (from mobile data to Wi-Fi and vice versa).

These improvements will soon come to the Google Messages app, which is now the default messaging app on Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets (with cellular connectivity). Very recently, the RCS Universal Profile 3.0 was released, bringing the highly requested end-to-end encryption for Android-iPhone chats. It also brought easier subscription management of business profiles.