Credit: Ryan-Thomas Shaw / Android Authority
- Code snippets found by XDA Developers suggest that Google Messaging will not support non-certified Android devices after March 31, 2021.
- Non-certified devices are those Android devices that Google has not officially released to access its mobile services.
- Since May 2019, new Huawei devices fall into this category.
Google Messaging may soon stop working with non-certified Android phones, including those manufactured by Huawei. New code snippets found by XDA Developers in version 7.7.203 the app suggests that the app will not be compatible with devices not officially certified to run Google Mobile Services (GMS) after March 31, 2021.
Related: Everything you need to know about RCS messages
Huawei agreed to migrate its users to Messages in 2018, when Google was trying to build a critical mass of RCS adoption. However, when the U.S. government placed the company on the Commerce Department’s List of Entities in 2019, Google was no longer able to work with Huawei. Since then, new Huawei devices have been shipped without any apps made by Google, including Messaging. But that does not mean that people have failed to circumvent the ban. Messaging is one of the few primary applications that you can easily transfer on phones that don’t have access to GMS, as you don’t need a Google account to use it. It will not be the case later this year.
XDA suggests that the next constraint is probably linked to the fact that Messaging will support end-to-end encryption. If Google continued to allow non-certified devices to run Messages, it would be difficult for the company to ensure that conversations involving non-certified devices were not compromised. The feature is currently in beta, but an official launch could begin later this year.
If you’re using Google Messaging on a non-certified device, consider checking one of these alternatives before the cut-off date.