Android-to-iOS texting has been a sticking point for years. While iPhones get easy access to extra messaging features through iMessage (which is built right into the pre-installed Messages app), those features only work between iPhones and other Apple devices. As of today, texts sent betweenphones running Androidand phones running iOS default to SMS or MMS — meaning less security, lower-quality media, and of course, that dreaded “green bubble” that can break iMessage group chats.
But Apple hasannounced it’s finally committed to adopting RCS messaging, the newer standard that enables iMessage-like features on Android phones, beginning next year. What will that actually mean for Android users, practically speaking? Here’s what you need to know.
What is RCS?
RCS stands for “rich communication service.” In a nutshell, it’s a communication protocol developed by the GSM Association (GSMA), currently on track to replace the aging SMS and MMS messaging standards as the default framework for sending and receiving mobile carrier-based text messages.
While the RCS standard has existed in some form since 2008, it’s only started seeing wide adoption in the past few years. This uptick in use and awareness seems largely due to Google’s efforts to incorporate RCS into Android: the company announced in late 2023 that itsMessages app had reached one billion active RCS users worldwide.
RCS offers a number of advantages over SMS and MMS. RCS uses an LTE, 5G, or Wi-Fi connection to transmit data, and allows for sending and receiving higher-quality images and videos, messages without character limits, and adds now-familiar chat app features like typing indicators and read receipts. And depending on the implementation, RCS allows for messages to be end-to-end encrypted — something that’s flatly not possible with SMS messages. Essentially, as it’s been implemented on Android thus far, RCS upgrades the default texting experience with more modern features.
Why is Apple adding RCS support to iOS?
In November 2023, Apple announced that it intends to add RCS support to iOS starting in 2024 — in particular, the same Universal Profile used by Google Messages, an RCS implementation that guarantees interoperability across different mobile carriers. In a statement provided to9to5Mac, an Apple spokesperson said “We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS.” But why now?
Google has beenpublicly pressuring Apple to “get the message"and implement RCS messaging in iOS for more than a year now. Google’s campaign made the case that Apple had been willfully not implementing RCS messaging as a sales tactic. Texting between iOS and Android using SMS is a markedly poorer experience than two iPhones using iMessage or two Android phones texting over RCS, and it’s easy to interpret Apple’s refusal to play ball as a ploy to sell more iPhones: if you want to text your iPhone-owning friends, the best way to do it is with an iPhone of your own.
According to a November report, though, Google’s been doing even more to get Apple on the RCS bandwagon behind the scenes. Along with several prominent figures in the European telecom space, Google reportedly sent a letter to the European Commission arguing that iMessage should fall under theDigital Markets Act— European Union policy that requiresso-called “gatekeepers"to, among other things, “allow third parties to interoperate with the gatekeeper’s own services in certain specific situations.”
RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS.
Apple has reportedly argued in the past that iMessage shouldn’t fall under the DMA’s purview for a variety of reasons, including that it’s technically an optional iOS feature — if you have an iPhone, you don’thaveto use iMessage. But the European Commission’s interest in enforcing DMA policy against iMessage would be largely commercial. In their letter to the Commission, Google and its industry partnersreportedly arguedthat iMessage’s exclusivity is bad for people using iPhones for work: “Through iMessage, business users are only able to send enriched messages to iOS users and must rely on traditional SMS for all the other end users,” the letter read in part.
While Apple hasn’t said as much explicitly, it seems likely the company’s decision to finally build RCS support into iOS beginning in 2024 is a sort of preemptive response to any legal action the EU might take. This might feel familiar: 2023’s iPhone 15 series isApple’s first to feature USB-Cfor charging and data, about a year before EU law would have required as much starting in late 2024.
Will RCS on iOS end the “green bubble” drama?
Apple’s talk of “a better interoperability experience” might lead you to believe that the green bubble days are over — but that’s not the case. While building RCS support into iOS will enable modern text communication features like read receipts and typing indicators for conversations between iPhones and Android devices,9to5Mac has reportedthat iMessage will still denote which messages come from inside iMessage and which don’t, using the same blue-and-green color scheme. Messages sent and received within iMessage will still show up in blue bubbles, and messages sent from other platforms — even those sent over RCS — will still show up in green bubbles. Apple’s official line here is that it wants to highlight that iMessage still represents the best messaging experience for iPhone users, and will continue to even once RCS is an option.
So while we’re not sure whatexactlyApple’s RCS integration will look like, it definitely won’t silence the blue-versus-green discourse around Android-iOS texting, and the iMessage blue bubble will almost certainly remain a quasi-status symbol among certain sets of users. Still, iOS devices supporting RCS messaging should have a number of benefits, for both Android and iOS users. RCS greatly increases file size limits, which means photos and videos sent between Android and iOS using stock messaging apps will no longer be compressed. RCS also enables indicators that show when others are typing and read receipts that show when messages were viewed, both features that’ll remain intact on iOS.
It’s unclear whether Android users participating in iMessage group chats will still negatively impact iOS users once RCS support rolls out. Currently, adding a non-iMessage phone number to an iMessage group chat disables most enhanced iMessage features for all participants in the conversation. In theory, RCS could allow all group chat participants to use most of the same features (with RCS messages appearing a different color, of course).
But there are still iMessage features that aren’t replicated by RCS, like bespoke message effects, exclusive in-app games, and the ability to edit messages after they’ve been sent. It’s entirely possible that iMessage group chats that add any RCS users will fall back to RCS-only, disabling these additional, iOS-exclusive features for all participants, much in the same way a single SMS user will force all iMessage group chat participants to use SMS today. We’ll have to wait and see to know for sure, but Apple’s likely to want to preserve iMessage’s status as an exclusive ecosystem benefit to the fullest extent it can — and blue bubbles alone probably aren’t enough to do that.
While Google Messages currently adds end-to-end encryption of its own to RCS messages sent within the app, Apple says it won’t take that approach with RCS on iPhone — another advantage retained for iMessage, which does offer end-to-end encryption. Apple says it wants to work with the GSMA and its members to improve the RCS Universal Profile over time, though, particularly when it comes to security. If that comes to pass, it’ll be a boon for all RCS users — including on Android.
RCS on iOS: coming 2024
There are still some unanswered questions here, but we should know more sooner than later. In its statement to 9to5, Apple said that RCS is coming to iOS “later next year.” Time will tell if RCS support does anything to chip away at Apple’s garden wall or improveAndroid’s bleak unpopularity among young Americans, but at the very least, it should make texting your iPhone-owning friends a little smoother by this time next year. If you’re desperate for some iMessage action on your Android phone today, check outBeeper Mini— an interesting solution that grants Android users the coveted blue bubble in a way even RCS won’t be able to.
