If you are using a Google Pixel phone owned by your company, be mindful of your conversations on it. This should be basic knowledge for any device provided by your workplace, but if it wasn’t clear before, it should be now. According to a blog post from Google, third-party archival applications have been enabled to monitor RCS messages (the Pixel’s version of text messages) that are sent, received, modified, or removed on “fully managed” devices. This facilitates employers in fulfilling legal discovery, FOIA requests, and related obligations.

Google mentions that previous techniques for message retrieval required partnerships with mobile carriers, which presented difficulties due to the end-to-end encryption of RCS messages. The new archival technique preserves this encryption since it takes place on the device itself; however, your employer can access your RCS messages if they choose to enable this setting. The procedure is said to be transparent, with notifications sent to employees regarding the archiving of their messages.

This appears to be limited to text messages sent via RCS through the standard Messages application. It may not include other encrypted messaging platforms like WhatsApp. Nevertheless, refrain from communicating anything on a company-controlled device that you would not want your employer to view.