Back in November, Apple announced that it would add RCS (Rich Communication Services) support to the iPhone later this year. With this support, iPhone users will be able to view images and videos sent to them by Android users over RCS without having to deal with low-quality pictures and videos. Once Apple adds RCS support to the iPhone, iPhone users will be able to get read receipts when communicating with Android users, and see typing indicators. Messages will still be protected thanks to end-to-end encryption.
Currently, when an iPhone user messages an Android user and vice versa, the chat takes place over the old-school SMS/MMS platform which is why videos shared look like crap as do shared images. Because RCS and iMessage have almost the same features, iPhone users should have no problem using RCS when Apple does add support for it.
The question is, when will this take place? When will Apple start supporting RCS? On the Android.com website, Google has published an updated landing page that reads, “Apple has announced it will be adopting RCS in the fall of 2024.” Apple actually said in November 2023 that the support would come “later next year” which means that we can call this “news.”
The first day of fall this year will be September 22nd, 2024 which would dovetail with a possible release date for the iPhone 16 line and iOS 18. So there is a strong possibility that if Apple does say that support for RCS will take place in the fall, it will mean that RCS support for the iPhone will debut with the release of iOS 18 in September. If Apple adds it to the iOS 18 Developer Beta, iPhone support for RCS could be available to those installing the iOS 18 developer beta right after Apple unveils iOS 18 during the WWDC 2024 Keynote on June 10th.
When Apple does add RCS support to the iPhone, you should be able to see whether you have an RCS connection by looking at the text field before you start typing a message. For example, after you tap on the name of the Android-using recipient you are sending a message to and you see RCS in the text field, it means that you will be chatting with the recipient using Rich Communication Services. On the other hand, if the text field says Text Message, you are messaging an Android user who doesn’t use RCS, or an RCS signal is not available. Thus, you’ll be chatting using SMS/MMS.
Apple will no doubt make a big deal about adding RCS support as it gets closer to September, so stay tuned. We can tell you that Apple’s support for RCS will not add the blue bubble/green bubble rift.