GOOGLE has come under increasing criticism after rolling out a new Android update that allows employers to read and save RCS messages on work-issued devices. This feature, called Android RCS Archival, was first reported by Android Authority and has raised similar privacy concerns as the recent backlash Microsoft faced with its Teams activity-tracking update.
The change means that on company-owned phones, employers can now access RCS conversations in Google Messages, even though RCS usually uses end-to-end encryption.
For industries that already keep SMS records for compliance purposes, this adds RCS to the list but for regular workplaces, this feels like a big step backward in messaging privacy.
Google said this feature is only available on work-managed devices, not on personal phones.
However, many employees still see text messaging as more private than email, especially since they expect encrypted communication. With this update, that sense of privacy disappears on company-owned devices.
The rollout has sparked renewed discussions about the balance between corporate monitoring and employee privacy, raising questions about how much control companies should have over the tools employees use to communicate.
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