iPhone RCS still isn't widely supported, and is waiting on carriers to act

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in iOS

Google thought Apple adopting RCS would fix everything, but the messaging protocol is still a distant second to iMessage thanks to a lack of carrier support, device support, and encryption.

Phone settings screen showing messaging options with RCS and MMS toggled on and Show Subject Field off. Battery is at 52%.
RCS messaging now available on iPhone



When iOS 18 launched, some iPhone users saw a tiny change in the Messages app -- an RCS tag in text chats with supported Android users. However, the list of people able to take advantage of this better system is as convoluted as Android's fragmentation problem.

According to a list provided by Foxt Dev, RCS support is limited to a few popular carriers in the United States, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, and France, but outside of that, RCS support doesn't exist. The RCS version being used is the one set by the GSMA, not Google, so end-to-end encryption isn't enabled either.

What RCS does get you is improved photo and video sharing, typing indicators, and basic reactions. Apple, Google, and the GSMA are working towards encrypted messages with RCS, but it may take some time.

While the supported carriers in the select countries enable RCS, it is far from a global or universal messaging protocol. The lack of encryption means most people likely should default to other services when possible.

For now, iMessage is likely your best option, especially as Apple keeps adding features. Outside of the United States, apps like WhatsApp, Line, Signal, and WeChat are still the biggest means of communication.

RCS is just another standard



Google latched onto RCS as a possible way to escape its history of creating and killing failed messaging apps on Android. The company positioned it as a superior service that Apple refused to adopt despite it being a step down from the existing iMessage service on Apple products.



Instead of working to create a competitive service that could be equal to iMessage, Google fought to own a piece of what Apple had cultivated over a decade with iMessage -- default status. However, it failed, as even though Apple adopted RCS, it didn't use Google's locked-in version.

Given the nature of SMS, it will likely take decades to phase it out entirely. And while RCS is definitely an improvement for green bubble chats, it serves only to further complicate an already busy space filled with dozens of chat options.

The beauty of Apple's system is that iMessage exists as a part of Messages and is tied to the user's phone number. Consumers should never and will never sit down to consider which chat protocol they are using.

Once RCS is encrypted and a significant majority of the world can use it when chatting with iPhone users, it will be a more viable option. However, as RCS exists today, it is likely better to stick with whatever chat app you used to talk to your Android friends before instead of rushing to get everyone in an RCS group chat.

At least sending images and group chats will be less of a nightmare between iPhone and Android users thanks to RCS. It's an improvement over SMS, but still not a unifying, universal protocol that actually helps everyone -- just those with the right phone and right carrier in the right countries.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,611member
    AppleInsider said:

    1. Google latched onto RCS as a possible way to escape its history of creating and killing failed messaging apps on Android. The company positioned it as a superior service that Apple refused to adopt despite it being a step down from the existing iMessage service on Apple products.


    2. Instead of working to create a competitive service that could be equal to iMessage. However, it failed, ...

    3. Apple adopted RCS, it didn't use Google's locked-in version.

    1. Google never even suggested that Apple replace iMessage with RCS. It was intended to be a more full-featured alternative to Apple's fallback SMS and a path to fully encrypted cross-platform messaging.  

    2. Failed? Hardly!
    Google has created "a competitive service that could be equal to iMessage": Equally secure, equally private, and likely installed on nearly as many Western devices as Apple's iMessage. 

    3. Google did not want Apple to use Google's services and Google server systems to process Apple Messages. Why finance Apple's platform? What Google DOES want is Apple working with them to integrate MLS secure messaging as part of the GSMA's RCS standard. Until they do, whenever an Apple user becomes part of a Google Messages exchange, the conversation's otherwise E2EE privacy and security is broken.

    In the meantime, Google is working closely with GSMA to make E2EE default whether Apple uses the standard or not, and for a couple of reasons I suspect that they won't.  
    edited October 1 ctt_zh
  • Reply 2 of 8
    Based on a quick perusal of my contacts I’d have to say that the title is correct and RCS isn’t widely available from an iPhone. I started a new message thread with people I know have Android phones and out of the 12-15 I tried only 1 showed RCS, all the others showed SMS. Of course, it isn’t all carrier specific. My cousin is on Verizon and is the only one of my contacts that showed RCS. My good friend is also on Verizon but still shows SMS. I’d venture that my cousin is running a more current version of Android than my friend is.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 8
    Wesley HilliardWesley Hilliard Posts: 244member, administrator, moderator, editor
    gatorguy said:
    1. Google never even suggested that Apple replace iMessage with RCS. It was intended to be a more full-featured alternative to Apple's fallback SMS and a path to fully encrypted cross-platform messaging.  

    2. Failed? Hardly!
    Google has created "a competitive service that could be equal to iMessage": Equally secure, equally private, and likely installed on nearly as many Western devices as Apple's iMessage. 

    3. Google did not want Apple to use Google's services and Google server systems to process Apple Messages. Why finance Apple's platform? What Google DOES want is Apple working with them to integrate MLS secure messaging as part of the GSMA's RCS standard. Until they do, whenever an Apple user becomes part of a Google Messages exchange, the conversation's otherwise E2EE privacy and security is broken.

    In the meantime, Google is working closely with GSMA to make E2EE default whether Apple uses the standard or not, and for a couple of reasons I suspect that they won't.  
    1. Didn't say Google wanted Apple to replace iMessage, just adopt RCS. 

    2. Yep, failed. We're what, 14 years into RCS existing and just now talking about wide adoption?

    3. Why support Google's locked in version? And, sorry, you've got the history of this out of order. Apple refusing to use Google's version prompted Apple to work with the GSMA on end-to-end encryption for the base RCS model.

    Google joined the effort after it realized its secondary branch wasn't being used.

    StrangeDayswilliamlondonOferForumPostchiawatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 8
    So does RCS use data (like iMessage) or carrier bandwidth (like SMS/MMS)?

    i realised I shouldn’t treat the forum as Google, so I didn’t! I got quite a good answer:
    https://www.perplexity.ai/search/so-does-rcs-use-data-like-imes-uKK4_vlJQ2GgEwM2ZjowVA

    it uses data, but needs carrier support too! Really!? So the worst of both worlds? Is it really the carriers trying to remain relevant?
    arthurbawatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 8
    Let me share an 'outside the US' perspective.

    All this discussion about RCS is moot.

    If I send an SMS/RCS to any Android contact, I never get a reply and they never see it.

    Why?

    Because Android users use WhatsApp.  In other countries it's WeChat.  

    They see it as a combination iMessage/Facetime app and use it just like us Apple users use iMessage/Facetime - ie: we don't use anything else.

    I asked a friend about my text message and they showed me their phone: no sign of my message, and no sign of any app that would show an SMS either.  They either hadn't installed it or deleted that app.

    I'm guessing in the US it's different, but I wouldn't think that it will be different for long.
    williamlondonivauawatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 8
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,611member
    gatorguy said:
    1. Google never even suggested that Apple replace iMessage with RCS. It was intended to be a more full-featured alternative to Apple's fallback SMS and a path to fully encrypted cross-platform messaging.  

    2. Failed? Hardly!
    Google has created "a competitive service that could be equal to iMessage": Equally secure, equally private, and likely installed on nearly as many Western devices as Apple's iMessage. 

    3. Google did not want Apple to use Google's services and Google server systems to process Apple Messages. Why finance Apple's platform? What Google DOES want is Apple working with them to integrate MLS secure messaging as part of the GSMA's RCS standard. Until they do, whenever an Apple user becomes part of a Google Messages exchange, the conversation's otherwise E2EE privacy and security is broken.

    In the meantime, Google is working closely with GSMA to make E2EE default whether Apple uses the standard or not, and for a couple of reasons I suspect that they won't.  
    1. Didn't say Google wanted Apple to replace iMessage, just adopt RCS. 

    2. Yep, failed. We're what, 14 years into RCS existing and just now talking about wide adoption?

    3. Why support Google's locked in version? And, sorry, you've got the history of this out of order. Apple refusing to use Google's version prompted Apple to work with the GSMA on end-to-end encryption for the base RCS model.

    Google joined the effort after it realized its secondary branch wasn't being used.

    You have the timeline wrong, among other things. 

    Mistake number one: Google announced support for MLS as the proposed encryption standard in RCS over a year ago, July of 2023, before Apple made any decision whatsoever concerning RCS. 

    Mistake number two. Open-source MLS is not the same as the proprietary E2EE method currently in use for Google Messages.

    Mistake number three? You misconstrued Google's offer to assist Apple in E2EE RCS inclusion as meaning Google's proprietary encryption. That would have required Google funding and maintaining Apple's secure messaging at Google's expense.  Of course, they wouldn't want to do that, Apple isn't destitute. 

    What they do want Apple to do is join them in making MLS E2EE the RCS default. My pure guess is Apple has no interest in doing so, but I'm prepared to be surprised. 

    And your fourth mistake: Claiming Apple declared they were working with GSMA themselves on securing RCS. They never said any such thing AFAIK .Read the words they used. What Apple actually said is they would work on RCS security with (individual) carriers who happen to be GSMA members. Please correct me if Apple made some additional statement of cooperation directly with GSMA and standards that I missed. 


    edited October 1
  • Reply 7 of 8
    The list cannot be up to date. I (iPhone, Germany) regularly chat with a friend (Android) in the Netherlands. RCS works like a charm. Even when he was roaming in Germany, RCS was no problem. The day iOS 18 came out I deleted WhatsApp. 
    appleinsideruserwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 8
    ivauaivaua Posts: 11member
    arthurba said:
    Let me share an 'outside the US' perspective.

    All this discussion about RCS is moot.

    If I send an SMS/RCS to any Android contact, I never get a reply and they never see it.

    Why?

    Because Android users use WhatsApp.  In other countries it's WeChat.  

    They see it as a combination iMessage/Facetime app and use it just like us Apple users use iMessage/Facetime - ie: we don't use anything else.

    I asked a friend about my text message and they showed me their phone: no sign of my message, and no sign of any app that would show an SMS either.  They either hadn't installed it or deleted that app.

    I'm guessing in the US it's different, but I wouldn't think that it will be different for long.
    Let me support you on this with both hands and feet!!! 
    Remembering dark times of only SMS and understating to an extent how it works, I can't understand all the fuss of Apple not giving a support to RCS. Of course now it does, but does it help much, since RCS is a 99% function of MOBILE OPERATOR (messaging server+exchange/interconnect with other operators) and not a manufacturer of the phone. In many cases, even with SMS there are hiccups to this day since some some operators are not signing agreements about SMS exchange (thus no technical implementation of exchange) and you can't send a message to someone abroad. And personally, I'm expecting the same happening in RCS space, in your bubble, everything works fine but just step left or right, and it is all shambles. Another issue, how mobile operators are going to charge for this service, are they going to do the same as with phone calls by screwing customer and with implementing of VoIP (read oLTE, oWiFi) and still charging you minutes as if it is old time GSM or god forbid NMT with CDMA.
    ZERO optimism on RCS.
    And yes, there are nearly 6 billion people living outside of USA...
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
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