iPhone owners who want to text users of non-Apple devices more securely should install iOS 26.5, which Apple released on Monday. The update introduces support for end-to-end encryption when using Rich Communication Services (RCS). The encryption, which makes messages unreadable outside the sending and receiving devices, is available to users with the latest version of Google Messages and to iPhone users on AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and other major carriers.
RRCS, heavily promoted by Google as an answer to Apple's iMessage, is part of a broader shift away from the SMS messaging that defined early cell phones. Google, Meta, and other companies had long criticized Apple's lack of support for RCS before the iPhone maker began introducing RCS features in 2024.
Introduced in 2011, iMessage was part of a trend of evolving texting services that introduced features we now take for granted, such as sending high-resolution photos, creating group chats, sending messages over Wi-Fi, seeing when other people read and type messages, and end-to-end encryption. Android devices lacked a built-in iMessage equivalent for years, driving users toward third-party services such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger until Google rolled RCS out to US Android devices in 2019. End-to-end encryption followed two years later.
However, since Apple refused to support RCS to maintain iMessage's position as a killer app for iOS for years, messages between iPhones and Android devices reverted to SMS. Beyond the lack of modern features, the experience made Android users feel somewhat excluded, especially in the US, where the iPhone is popular and SMS messages are easily identified by green chat bubbles.
Third-party companies made multiple failed attempts to bridge the gap. For example, phone manufacturer Nothing tried to launch a chat app for conversations between Android and iPhone users but pulled it in 2023 following criticism over gaps in its encryption.
Apple finally began supporting RCS with iOS 18 in 2024, but it lacked end-to-end encryption until this week.
A new version, called RCS Universal Profile 4.0, might eventually enable conversations between iPhones and Android devices to seamlessly transition from text to video without going through third-party apps. The feature would require collaboration between Apple and Google. The chances of it happening look good, as the iPhone maker championed Google's cooperation during its announcement of RCS encryption support.