It’s something that nobody saw coming and some might need to rub their eyes and re-read this before they believe it, but here we go - Apple is bringingRCS messagingsupport to the iPhone.
The news means that the days of green bubble friends having to make do with low-resolution MMS while missing out on things like reactions and typing notifications are almost over, and it can’t come soon enough for many. Starting in 2024, owners of devices like theiPhone 15will be able to send and receive RCS messages with friends and family who own thePixel 8, for example. And it’ll be glorious.
A green bubble day for phone users everywhere
Apple didn’t even announce what is huge news itself. Instead, it seeded the information to a handful of news outlets includingTechRadar. According to that report, Apple says that we can look forward to RCS support relatively soon, although it’s unclear if we will have to wait for iOS 18 in September 2024.
“Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association. We believe the RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users,” said an Apple spokesperson told the outlet.
RCS messaging is effectively iMessage but cross-platform and it offers much the same featureset. Apple says that RCS isn’t going to replace iMessage, but rather sit alongside it. With RCS enabled iPhone users will be able to send high-resolution photos and videos to Android devices without using a third-party app, for example, while group messaging will get a huge upgrade. No longer will those with Android phones be left out — RCS should bridge the gap perfectly. At this point, it’s important to remember that this move doesn’t bring iMessage to Android, but it does bring Android’s answer to iMessage to the iPhone.
There are downsides to RCS, however. It doesn’t supportend-to-end encryptionwhile iMessage does, but Apple says it’s going to work with the powers that be to try and rectify that. We also don’t yet know exactly how RCS and iMessage will work alongside each other, but for now, we’ll just have to hope that Apple doesn’t do anything untoward and that all our RCS cross-platform hopes will come true.
