Google Just Announced When Apple Will Officially Adopt RCS
Did Google just forewarn Apple’s big announcement? The Android developer has just published an updated landing page for Google Messages , showcasing key features ranging from customization, privacy and security, and, of course, artificial intelligence.
This landing page has different sections for each feature set, including one for RCS. As 9to5Google noted , if you expand this list of RCS features and scroll down, you’ll see a section called “Coming Soon to iOS: Better Messaging for Everyone.” This isn’t surprising: we knew Apple was rolling out RCS back in November . However, the following line carries the news: “Apple has announced that it will adopt RCS in the fall of 2024.”
Do you have this? Of course, the company has committed to bringing RCS to the iPhone, but the last time it discussed the topic, it only said that support would arrive later this year. The company has never specifically said when we’ll get RCS during the year, so Google’s announcement, as subtle as it is, is big news.
Why is RCS on iPhone so important?
Currently, Apple only supports the long-deprecated SMS and MMS protocols when sending text messages to third-party smartphones. (also known as green bubbles.) SMS/MMS results in poor image quality, terrible video quality, problems with group chats, and worst of all, poor security since they do not have end-to-end encryption (E2EE). RCS, on the other hand, is a new messaging protocol that includes modern features such as E2EE, typing indicators, high-quality images and videos, and optimized group chats. Unlike iMessage, it’s also platform independent: if your text messaging app and carrier support RCS, you can easily send messages to other numbers on the platform.
However, Apple doesn’t currently support RCS, so they don’t support SMS/MMS yet. This reluctance to give up SMS is why texting on Android from an iPhone is so painful. It’s not your friend’s fault: it’s Apple’s fault. You can read more about RCS on iPhone and why it’s so important here .
RCS could be a feature in iOS 18
If Apple is indeed planning to launch RCS in the fall of 2024, this strongly suggests that the implementation will be a feature of iOS 18 . Apple typically releases a major iOS update in September, so it’s likely that the company plans to include RCS support as part of this launch. Of course, it could always come with an update like iOS 18.1 or 18.2, but let’s hope: if RCS is part of iOS 18, that means it could be in the iOS 18 beta that Apple will distribute to developers (and anyone who brave enough to install it) after they announce the software at WWDC 2024 .
There’s a chance – a chance – we’ll have RCS support on iPhone starting June 10th. If this is true, you can be sure that I will install iOS 18 Developer Beta 1 as soon as it comes out.