Google takes first major step for E2EE interoperability across all messaging apps (APK teardown)

Getting everyone’s favorite messaging services to play nicely with each other is maybe the holy grail of modern communications. But for all the progress that’s been made moving away from the world of colored-bubble bullies, significant challenges remain. Last year, Google announced its support for Messaging Layer Security (MLS), a new standard that promises to keep end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messages secure across apps and platforms, in one-on-one and group chats alike. We’re finally starting to see the fruits of that effort, as references to MLS appear in the Google Messages app.

Developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the big problem MLS attempts to solve is E2EE group messaging. Google has already extended rich-communications services (RCS) to support E2EE for groups, and while it remains to be seen exactly how MLS will be integrated into Messages, we can hope to see it leading to more robust, secure communication across not just platforms, but supporting all your favorite apps.

Further strings present in the app show preparations towards making MLS the default security layer for messaging. That could prove significant, as adoption drives any protocol’s success, and making it opt-in is certainly not going to help that any. Considering the enthusiasm Google has shown for MLS to date, being an early supporter with Messages could be a very intentional way of signaling that it’s on the side of open messaging — and in contentious markets like the EU where regulators are eager to push services towards interoperability (whether they like it or not), that’s worth a company emphasizing.

Leave a Comment