Google is heavily pushing RCS as the next big thing to replace text messaging in the US. To win over users and to persuade Apple to adopt RCS for iMessage, Google added end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for 1-on-1 chats in the Messages app in June 2021. A year later, in May 2022, the company teased E2EE coming to group chats in Google Messages, with the feature finally rolling out to beta members towards the end of the year. One limitation of Google's implementation was that E2EE in group chats was restricted to 21 people. That's changing now, with the limit seemingly being raised to 100 people.

Until now, if you added more than 20 people (excluding you) to a group chat, Google Messages would automatically turn off E2EE with no way to enable it manually. The lock icon on the send button, which denotes E2EE is enabled, would also disappear to signify the lack of encryption. Another way to check the end-to-end encryption status of a group conversation is by tapping on the group name at the top.

The new limit makes a lot more sense since RCS has a limit of up to 100 people in a group chat, so all your conversations will remain private and secure. This change will also give Google Messages an edge over iMessage, which supports E2EE for group conversations with up to 32 people. Signal is far ahead of the competition, though, and supports E2EE with up to 1,000 people.

For now, E2EE for group chats in Google Messages is only available to members who are a part of the beta program. If you are not a part of the beta, you need to wait until Google opens more testing slots in the program or rolls out E2EE for group chats to the public. Until that happens, consider checking out some of the other encrypted messaging apps for Android if you want to keep your conversations private and secure.