FEBRUARY 2020 PCWorld 39let Google know whether it got it right and
also report spam texts, all of which will be
used to improve the detection engine.
In addition to flagging spam, Google will
also verify whether you’re indeed chatting
with the brand you think you’re chatting with.
If so, Google will add a verification badge
alongside the business name and logo in the
conversation. Google says 1-800-Flowers (go.
pcworld.com/18fl), Banco Bradesco (go.
pcworld.com/bnco), Kayak (go.pcworld.
com/kyak), Payback (go.pcworld.com/
pybk), and SoFi (go.pcworld.com/sofi) are
among the first brands to send messages with
Verified SMS, with more being added daily.
While both of these features are certainly
excellent additions to Android Messages—
especially on the heels of the recent launch
of RCS—it also underscores the biggest
security safeguard that’s still MIA: end-to-
end encryption. While messages are indeed
encrypted while being sent, there’s no
guarantee that they’re encrypted by the
carrier, which means someone could be
reading or intercepting messages along the
way. Google promises that it doesn’t save
messages, but most providers make no such
claims, making it difficult to fully trust that
your messages are for
your eyes only.
But at least you’ll
know that they’re
coming from verified
sources, which is a
step in the right
direction. Verified
SMS is rolling out in
nine countries,
starting in the U.S.,
India, Mexico, Brazil,
the UK, France,
Philippines, Spain,
and Canada, while
spam protection is
rolling out in the U.S.
following a broader
launch earlier this
Kayak is among the first sites to send messages with Verified SMS. year.