Google Messages is Google LLC's default SMS/RCS messaging app, operated as a subsidiary of publicly traded Alphabet Inc. Google's own support page states that RCS conversations between Google Messages users default to end-to-end encryption, with the decryption key generated on-device and never shared with Google, but that end-to-end encryption is not available for SMS/MMS fallback messages. Google Play's Data Safety label discloses that the app collects Location and Personal info (plus 8 other data types) and may share Location, Personal info, and Device/other IDs with third parties. A 2022 Trinity College Dublin study by Prof. Doug Leith found the app sends a hash and timestamp of every message plus the sender's phone number to Google via telemetry with no opt-out, separate from message content; Google told the researchers it planned to make changes in response. No fine or regulator order specific to Google Messages was found.
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Google Play's Data Safety label for the Google Messages app states the app may collect Location and Personal info data types, plus 8 additional (unspecified in the summary view) data types.
Google's general Privacy Policy states that the 'Your activity' category of information it collects across its services includes 'People with whom you communicate or share content' — contact-graph metadata that applies to Google Account users of Messages.
Alphabet Inc.'s FY2025 Form 10-K, filed with the SEC (CIK 1652044), states directly that Google LLC — the developer of Google Messages — is a subsidiary of Alphabet, a publicly traded, audited company with named executive leadership.
Google Play's Data Safety label for Google Messages discloses that the app may share Location, Personal info, and Device or other IDs with third parties.
Google's own support documentation states RCS conversations between Google Messages users default to end-to-end encryption, and that the secret decryption key is generated on-device, exists only on the two communicating devices, and is not shared with Google. It also states end-to-end encryption is not available for SMS/MMS fallback messages.
Following Trinity College Dublin's 2022 study documenting non-opt-outable Messages telemetry sent to Google, TCD's own report states that Google told the research team it planned to make changes to the Google Messages and Dialer apps in response to the findings.
A Trinity College Dublin study by Prof. Doug Leith found that the Google Messages app tells Google whenever a message is sent or received, transmitting the time and a hash uniquely identifying the message content, separate from and in addition to the message itself.