Google Messages now lets you send RCS messages to yourself

Summary

Google Messages now supports RCS self-messaging for high-resolution photos and videos.
Messages sent to yourself aren’t end-to-end encrypted though, unlike regular RCS messages.
Other messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram support self-messaging.

Google Messages stands out as a top-tier app for RCS messaging on Android. If you often send yourself reminders or photos through it instead of using a dedicated note-taking app, that experience is about to improve significantly.

Recently, users on Reddit (via Android Authority) discovered that Google Messages has enabled support for self-RCS messaging. Previously, the app only allowed SMS self-messaging. This feature was initially found in a beta version of Google Messages, but it is now widely available to some users. While it remains unclear when Google officially activated this feature, several users on Reddit have reported it working for over two weeks now.

With the addition of RCS (Rich Communication Services) self-messaging on Google Messages, you can now send yourself high-resolution photos, videos, GIFs, and messages without a character limit. So, if you feel like texting yourself a novel, go right ahead. You can check out the original Reddit thread where this update was first spotted below.

Google Messages

Google’s default messaging application, which is installed on many Android phones out of the box. The company’s custom RCS implementation brings with it end-to-end encryption.

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Sometimes it’s quicker just to text yourself

However, there is one issue with the current Google Messages RCS self-message implementation

While it’s great to see RCS self-messaging come to Google Messages, one flaw with this implementation is that messages sent from your own number aren’t encrypted like regular RCS messages are. So, keep that in mind if you send yourself sensitive information. Hopefully, Google will address this in a future update. If you’re a Dual-SIM user, you can self-RCS message yourself cross-SIM, which will be end-to-end encrypted.

This may seem like a niche Google Messages update, but many people, including myself, sometimes send text messages to themselves for reminders or to quickly jot down information. Is it the most efficient way to do things when apps like Google Keep exist? Probably not, but it works.

Other widely-used messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Telegram, also let users send messages to themselves. WhatsApp introduced this feature in 2022, allowing users to share images, videos, notes, stickers, and more to themselves. This capability in WhatsApp is protected by end-to-end encryption, which Google Messages RCS self-messaging currently lacks. If you don’t see this ability yet, it may be because Google is still rolling out the feature. You can side-load the latest beta version of Google Messages to try it out if you want to.