It’s an impressive milestone as Google doesn’t require the Messages app with Google Mobile Services on third-party Android devices.
Google is celebrating yet another Android app that eclipsed 1 billion installs.
Android Police reports that, in recent days, the Messages app on the Play Store registered more than 1 billion installs less than a year after generating half as many.
It’s clear why this milestone approached faster than anticipated: Rich Communication Services (RCS). Google rolled out Chat, its RCS standard, in force over the last year. Chat arrived in the United States at the end of 2019, and Google continues pushing it into additional countries worldwide. Features enabled through RCS and Chat include a real-time typing indicator, large file transfers, and reliable group messaging. Android devices get pretty close to iMessage with the Messages app and this technology.
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The Messages app does a lot more than just sending and receiving texts.
