Google Messages now supports end-to-end encrypted 100-person group chats

Google is working for some time to make its group chats more secure in its RCS Messages app and in order to do so it has been rolling out end-to-end encryption which has been currently rolled out for Beta Version. While this was a good initiative for group chats, one issue that was encountered was no more than 21 people added to the group at a time. It seems that Google has realized it and is increasing the group limit to 100 people. End-to-End encrypted 100-person group chats wil;l; further secure the communication occurring in large groups and meetings.

So from now on this group limit will match the 100 participants limit on RCS group chat which means by adding more people to the group, one wont have to worry whether the group chat is encrypted or not. This is somewhat similar to iMessages current limit of upto 32 people for end to end encrypted support.

End-to-End encrypted 100-person group chats in Beta

This new change was found and announced by a twitter user  @SeeAreEff. Before this feature was launched, when users used to add more than 20 people to the group including themselves, they would see that the lock icon on the send button disappear which meant that chat is not end to end encrypted.

However, now when you are relieved with E2EE even when you add more people to the group, it should be mentioned here that  encryption in group chats is still in beta and can only be used if you are using the Beta version of Google’s Messages app.

Right now it is not known when this feature will pass the test and reach stable status  to reach as regular version to everyone.

For those thinking how to check whether your group chat is encrypted or not, it can be done by tapping on the group name at the top of the chat and checking the group details.  A section dedicated for this purpose will let you know whether the group conversation is safe or not.

Also Read: Skype Introduces End to End Encrypted Texts and Voice