It looks like Google is working on an editing feature for Google Messages that will allow you to edit RCS texts after they've been sent. This is based on four code sequences found by DeSpAndroid in the latest Google Messages Beta that references editing.
These are:
- bugle.enable_edit_ui
- bugle.load_edit_history
- bugle.process_outgoing_edits
- bugle.process_incoming_edits
We can't yet see what this feature will look like in practice, but the strings suggest that the app will be able to edit and receive messages, and it will also show you the history of an edited message – so you can see what was sent before and after it was edited.
We also don't know how the editing itself will work. Some services only allow you to edit a message a certain number of times, while others give you a time limit within which you can edit the message, and some services have no restrictions.
Whatever editing Google Messages looks like, this tool will be a great asset to the app, especially for people like me who are constantly sending texts full of spelling mistakes. That is, if it ever actually launches – as with all leaks, there's no guarantee it will happen.
Another victory for RCS?
This upgrade would follow several major updates to the messaging app rolled out this year, including end-to-end encryption and a visual overhaul.
Unfortunately, there's no indication of when this Google Messages feature will launch, so we may have to wait a while longer, but it could also happen very soon. There's also no guarantee that editing will ever come to Google Messages until an official announcement is made – that said, with Google trying to make its messaging service preferable to WhatsApp and others (with some of these apps already offering message editing) it seems likely that adding message editing is a matter of when, not if.
It also remains to be seen whether this feature will be embedded into the RCS standard, or will be a feature of Google Messages specifically. If it's the former, this editing tool could also come to iMessage and iPhones if Apple finally adopts RCS next year; If the latter is the case, Google could end up creating its own two-tiered system, like the one Apple has long been accused of with its green/blue bubble messages, giving Android RCS users a superior experience.