Official: Apple to Support RCS Messaging Standard on iPhone in 2024

Buzz

Ngày cập nhật gần nhất: 15/4/2026

Apple announced today its commitment to implementing the Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging standard on iPhones next year. This feature will be introduced through a software update at the end of the coming year, providing a multimedia messaging experience similar to iMessage and third-party OTT apps for communication between iPhone and Android users.

RCS will bring enhanced interactive capabilities for cross-platform messaging, including features such as:

No need for third-party apps, simply use the built-in Messaging app on your phone to text each other
Read receipts, typing indicators, high-quality photo and video sharing, link sharing, location sharing, and more...
Operates over mobile networks or Wi-Fi

However, Apple's announcement also notes some points related to iMessage:

iMessage is here to stay, continuing as the messaging platform for all communication between iPhone users. RCS will only replace SMS, MMS, and exist separately from iMessage when available
SMS and MMS will still be provided as backups
Apple asserts that iMessage is currently safer and more privacy-friendly than RCS: iMessage is end-to-end encrypted, and Apple has recently enhanced this feature with Advanced Data Protection for iCloud. Meanwhile, RCS currently lacks strong encryption like iMessage
The color of message bubbles will not change, with iMessage in blue and RCS in green. Apple states they use the blue bubble to signify what they believe is the best and safest way for iPhone users to communicate, which is iMessage.

In summary, we can understand that Apple isn't opening iMessage to other platforms; instead, they are implementing RCS separately alongside iMessage.

Finally, Apple states they will collaborate with GSMA members to further enhance the RCS protocol, including improving security and message encryption. The company also emphasizes not using any exclusive end-to-end encryption methods on RCS. To compare, end-to-end encryption for RCS messages is currently only implemented by Google in the Android Google Messages app, not the default setting for RCS.

iPhone and Android are about to seamlessly text each other, what do you think, folks?

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