As enterprise communications move to modern, encrypted platforms, IT and compliance teams face a critical new challenge: how to seamlessly capture the records required to remain compliant. Archiving these messages isn’t just best practice—it’s important to meet strict regulatory requirements, to navigate eDiscovery during litigation, and to respond to data requests like FOIA. That’s why we’re introducing RCS message archiving, a new feature for fully managed Google Pixel devices. This feature helps your organization meet strict compliance needs while using the advanced security of Google Messages.
Simple and secure for compliance
Older methods of archiving text messages often relied on operator-level logging, which is incompatible with modern encrypted messages. Our new solution allows third-party archiving apps to integrate directly with Google Messages on a work device. When configured by your IT organization on a fully managed device, the archiving application is notified upon receipt of each RCS message, not only when a message is sent or received, but also if a message is also edited or deleted. The archiving app then reads the message data and makes it available to your IT organization. When archiving occurs on the device itself, end-to-end encryption is maintained in transit.
This helps ensure that a more complete and accurate log of all RCS message interactions is captured for your records. It provides your organization with a reliable Android-supported message archiving solution that is also backward compatible with SMS and MMS messages. Employees will see a clear notification on their device when the archiving feature is active.
Easy for IT administrators, powerful for employees
IT administrators can enable RCS Archival through a simple configuration. You have full control to determine which devices have the feature enabled and which archiving application you deploy for your organization.
This new feature, available on the Google Pixel and other compatible Android Enterprise devices, gives your employees all the benefits of RCS—such as write indicators, read receipts, and end-to-end encryption between Android devices—while ensuring your organization meets regulatory requirements.
Today, Google RCS third-party vendors, including Celltrust, Smarsh, and 3rd Eye, have integrated with Google Messages for RCS archiving, and more archiving apps are coming soon in 2026. This flexibility allows you to seamlessly deploy the archiving solution that best fits your existing compliance infrastructure. Learn more about Android RCS Archival in our help center.