RCS in Google Messages Can Now Handle PDFs… If You’re in the Right Place

One of the perks of using instant messengers like WhatsApp is that you can send documents in PDF format. This is useful for sharing tickets to movies or events, flight tickets, invoices, receipts, and more. The good news is that if you’re a Google Messages user who typically sends messages over RCS, it looks like PDF support is headed your way.

Google Messages gets PDF support for RCS

According to the Android Authority report, it looks like Google has enabled PDF file sharing for Google Messages via RCS Business Messaging. This means that businesses that rely on RCS to communicate with their customers will be able to use it to send PDF files. Like we said, this could be handy for tickets, invoices, and receipts.

It also means that users don’t need to switch back and forth between apps to get what they want. Before this, RCS users would either need to jump to email or another messenger app to get their PDFs. Now, users can get it all in one place. You should notice this change when you’re using RCS in Google Messages.

Messages that contain a PDF will look like a little card, sometimes with a first page preview or thumbnail. If you tap on it, it will open on your device’s default PDF viewer.

Not available worldwide, yet

If you’re a business or a user looking forward to receiving PDFs over RCS, you might have to wait. This is because Google’s rollout is only for India. It is unclear if the company plans to expand support to other regions. So far, the US nor Europe has access to this feature. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if they do.

Google has been pushing to make RCS the new standard in messaging. It creates a more unified system, instead of users figuring out what app the other person is using. Apple has also finally hopped on board the RCS train.

However, keep in mind there are limitations. All media and PDF attachments in an RCS Business Messaging message are capped at 100MB. This prevents businesses from spamming customers and using up their data or their device’s storage. As Android Police notes, India’s RCS Business Messaging’s ecosystem has some spam issues. This means that these PDFs could be abused to send either malicious or misleading documents.