If you’ve ever looked closely at your list of text messages on an Android phone, you’ve probably noticed that some contacts show a small blue dot on the bottom right of their profile picture or even an icon like a small chat bubble. Conversations with these contacts also work differently, and you may see higher-quality images, longer messages, and a lot of emoji reactions.
If you’re using the stock Messages app on a Samsung phone, the blue dot at the bottom of a contact’s profile icon means that both you and that contact have RCS messaging enabled. RCS stands for “rich communication services,” and it means you can use features like emoji reactions, typing indicators, and read receipts. It also most likely means your messages are protected with end-to-end encryption, though you’ll need to confirm that by looking for a padlock icon in the conversation itself.
Making this a bit more confusing is the fact that different Android phones have different default texting apps, which may show different symbols to represent RCS contacts.
Depending on which Android phone you have and even which wireless carrier, you may see different symbols to represent contacts with RCS chatting enabled. For example, on a Google Pixel phone, which uses the Messages by Google app, RCS capability is indicated with a symbol that looks like a chat bubble from a comic strip.
RCS is a universal standard, which means that — unlike other smart messaging platforms such as iMessage or WhatsApp — it’s not restricted to operating inside one specific messaging app. While that’s great for interoperability, since it means Samsung Galaxy phones can chat securely with Pixel or OnePlus phones, it means that each of those manufacturers will implement the standard within their own custom user interfaces.
On carrier default apps, even those that support RCS, there may be no indicator. For example, Verizon Messages does not have a blue dot or any other way of differentiating SMS from RCS. In texting apps that do not support RCS, a blue dot may simply indicate unread messages. And now that Apple has decided to support RCS on iPhones sometime next year, even more of your contacts will begin showing up with blue dots or chat bubble icons.