iPhone RCS still isn't widely supported, and is waiting on carriers to act
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.
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.
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Comments
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.
i realised I shouldn’t treat the forum as Google, so I didn’t! I got quite a good answer:
it uses data, but needs carrier support too! Really!? So the worst of both worlds? Is it really the carriers trying to remain relevant?
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.
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.