If you’re using RCS in Google Messages, you’ll see different checkmarks to show whether your messages have received and read. Here’s what they mean.
RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is a messaging protocol that Google has embraced as its version of iMessage. It allows Android users to effortlessly text one another while making use of all the good features that modern-day texting apps bring.
One such useful feature is read receipts, which help you determine whether the person on the other end has seen your messages or not. In classic Google fashion, it has made changes to its own Messages app—and they change the way you process information about your delivered messages. Let's take a closer look.
In order to check whether the recipient has seen your messages, both parties need to check for RCS messaging support on their phones and must have the read receipts option turned on.
Once you have this feature enabled, you'll be able to see your message delivery and seen status.
Up until now, a simple Sent, Delivered, and Seen text would relay the status of your messages. However, for reasons unbeknownst, Google Messages is now replacing the obvious text indicator with three different kinds of checkmarks.
These checkmark icons follow a similar trend to other popular messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. A hollow checkmark indicates that your message has been sent, and two hollow checkmarks mean that it has been successfully delivered. Upon the recipient seeing your text, the checkmarks turn into a filled icon.
While this might visually make the texting experience slightly less cluttered, it is a far cry from being as simple and to the point as the older text indicators were.
Google's dedication to RCS has been successful in pushing a tiny population of Android users to use a unified messaging platform. The inclusion of features such as read receipts, larger photos and videos, typing indicators, and message reactions, all make the experience quite blissful.
There's even an option to resend texts as regular SMS/MMS if your RCS connection stops working.
Adnan is a freelance writer at MUO covering all things Android. Alongside his interest in technology and filmmaking, he holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has been writing for tech publications since 2015.

source