Wear OS smartwatches could soon get a messaging upgrade

RCS messaging is something that Google has been pushing for some time now. The company has also been pressing Apple to adopt it. However, Google's Wear OS doesn't have support for it yet. All the messages you send through the smartwatches running the operating system are routed as standard texts.

The good part is that this could change soon, as Android Authority reports that the new Google Messages beta has laid some groundwork for standalone RCS messaging support on Wear OS smartwatches. This came to light after Android Authority did an APK teardown.

There are "some flags" added to the latest Google Messages beta for Wear OS that indicate standalone RCS support for the smartwatches. What's more interesting is that the new lines of code suggest that the watches can also handle voice messages over RCS in addition to texts. With this, the messaging experience on the watches would get a significant overhaul.

It's unclear whether this update will land on non-LTE-enabled smartwatches (40 mm LTE Galaxy Watch 7 curr. $319.99 on Amazon). However, Google may still introduce RCS messaging to them as the messaging protocol can send and receive messages over WiFi. As for when this messaging upgrade may land, there's no clear timeline yet.

Another thing that's worth noting is that these lines of code may have been inadvertently included in the latest Google Messages beta. If that's the case, RCS messaging support on Wear OS smartwatches may take longer than anticipated.