New Google Pixel feature could let your employer see your messages

If you use a company-owned Google Pixel phone, be careful what you say on it.

That should be common sense with any work-provided device, but in case it wasn't, it will be now. That's because Google has introduced the ability for third-party archival apps to track RCS messages (Pixel's version of text messages) that are sent, received, edited, or deleted on "fully managed" phones, per a Google blog post. The idea is to let employers comply with legal discovery, FOIA requests, and other things like that.

According to Google, older methods of message retrieval required working with mobile carriers, which is apparently difficult to do with the way RCS messages are encrypted from end-to-end. Google says that this new form of archival still retains end-to-end encryption because all of the archival is done on the device itself, but your employer will be able to see anything you say in RCS messages if they choose to turn this feature on. It will allegedly be a fully transparent process, with the employee being notified that their messages are being archived on their end, as well.

To be clear, it seems like this only applies to text messages sent using RCS through the default Messages app. As far as I can tell, this may not apply to other encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp. Still, just to be safe, you shouldn't say anything you wouldn't want your employer to see on an employer-managed device.