The messaging war between iOS and Android users between blue and green bubbles is about to end. There has been a major development in the long-standing RCS messaging fight between Apple and Google. Here are the details!
Is Google’s latest move pre-empting Apple’s big RCS announcement?
Google has released an updated download page for Google Messages. This page highlights important features such as customization, privacy and security, while also emphasizing the importance of features such as RCS.
The detail, spotted by 9to5Google, adds to the excitement that RCS is coming to Apple. When you expand the list of RCS features and scroll down, you’ll see the headline “Coming soon to iOS: Better messaging for everyone”.
It’s been known since November that Apple would adopt RCS, but Google’s announcement seems to bring Apple’s official announcement forward.
The availability of RCS on the iPhone will be a major milestone. Apple currently only supports SMS and MMS protocols, making it difficult for iPhone users to communicate with Android users. SMS/MMS is fraught with problems such as low-quality media sharing and security vulnerabilities, but RCS is a modern communication protocol that will eliminate these issues.
RCS comes with features like E2EE, making group chats and high-quality media sharing easier. It’s also not iPhone-specific like iMessage, which will ensure seamless communication between different devices.
Apple is expected to bring RCS as part of iOS 18. Apple usually releases major iOS updates in September, so it’s very likely that RCS will indeed arrive as a feature of iOS 18.
However, it remains unclear when the beta will begin or exactly which iOS update RCS will come with. What do you think? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.