If you have the Google Messages app on your device, it could soon stop working if you have an uncertified Android device.
A recent report shows that version 7.7.203 of the app contains new code snippets that do not support certain devices, including those manufactured by Huawei. According to the code, the devices affected have not been officially certified to run Google Mobile Services (GMS) beyond March 31, 2021.
In 2018, Huawei agreed to migrate its users to Messages. This was when Google was still building a mass version of RCS. But since Huawei was placed by the US government on the Entity List in 2019 of the Commerce Department, Google was no longer able to work with Huawei.
As a result of that ban, new Huawei devices have been shipped without any apps made by Google, including Messages. But despite this, many people found a way to work around it. Since Messages can easily be sideloaded on phones, people were able to use the app on their Huawei device. The app did not require a Google account to be operational. But this will no longer be the case this year.
As reported by XDA, it’s likely this restriction will be because Messages will soon support end-to-end encryption. If Messages continue to run on uncertified devices, Google won’t be able to guarantee conversations on these devices.
Right now, the feature is in beta mode. An official version could roll out sometime this year.
