In India, privacy and security are becoming growing concerns day after day. More and more, big tech companies and the people, in general, are focusing more on how they interact with businesses, what data they share with them, and what are the privacy and security concerns surrounding these communications. Now, Google has taken a small step on this front by introducing the Verified SMS feature onboard its Messages app. It is worth noting that the Google Messages app is the most popular SMS app in many countries, and hence a lot of people use it. Coincidentally, a lot of SMSes what people receive are from businesses. This new feature which is being rolled out in India and other select markets is designed to highlight the authenticity of the business which is sending you SMS. Further, this will allow the users to identify whether or not they should pay heed to the message that they received from a particular business, or they should simply ignore it as spam. Not only this, but Google is also rolling out the spam protection feature in the US, which it kicked off in December 2018.
Google Messages App: Verified SMS for Businesses
With this new feature, Google is aiming to better the functionality of the SMS application and to improve the trustworthiness of the businesses that SMS the people. Also, it will help the consumers in identifying whether or not they should trust the business that is messaging them. As per Google, the new feature will display the name and the logo of the business along with a verification badge in the SMS thread. This would help the people in ensuring that the business who is messaging them is genuine. It is worth noting that the businesses will have to enrol with Google to receive the verification badge.
Google has written on a company page saying, “When Verified SMS is on, and you receive a message from a business registered with Google, Google translates the message you receive into an unreadable authenticity code, all on your device. Then, Google compares this code with unreadable authenticity codes sent to Google by the business.”
Many Companies Signing Up for Verified SMS
It is also worth noting that Google has said it will use the phone number of the users receiving the SMS to generate the verification code for the businesses, but it won’t actually read the messages which are sent. In the first rollout of verified SMS for businesses, entities like Google Pay would be among the very first ones to get a verification code. Following these businesses, other companies like 1-800-Flowers, Banco Bradesco, Kayak, Payback, and SoFi will also enrol in Verified SMS by Google. It is also worth noting that the Verified SMS feature is not only being rolled out in India. Eight other countries including US, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, France, Philippines, Spain, and Canada are also getting this feature.
Messages Spam Protection Feature
Another very popular feature from Google in the Messages application has been that of Spam protection. The feature is now being broadly rolled out in the USA. The spam protection feature, as per Google, protects the users from spam while keeping the message private and uses only the message data. The spam protection feature is already live in India for a lot of users. Google Messages software engineer has also remarked that they are working on Rich Business Messaging as well to enhance the chats that the users have with business.
