After a long wait, Apple has finally added RCS Messaging on iPhone with the latest iOS 18 Beta 2. However, the new messaging feature is currently available only in the US, and its availability also depends on the user’s carrier network.
If you are not familiar with RCS and wondering why everyone is talking about this new feature that Apple didn’t even elaborate on during the WWDC event, here you will know the answers.
Quick Answer: RCS support on iPhone means easy and feature-rich communication with Android users without relying on third-party apps. This will finally solve the longstanding issue of seamless communication between Android and Apple users.
What is RCS?
RCS stands for Rich Communication Services, and as its name suggests, it makes the communication experience richer with support for high-resolution media sharing, file sharing, read receipts, real-time typing indicator, reactions, and almost every modern messaging feature, all with end-to-end encryption.
RCS aims to replace SMS and MMS but it requires internet for all its amazing features. However, in case of no internet, you can switch to plain text messaging and it will work over the cellular network.
There has always been a communication gap between Apple and Android users, mainly due to the closed Apple ecosystem. iPhone users mostly use iMessage, but to share or receive files with Android device, they are required to use third-party apps like WhatsApp.
The Apple ecosystem provide so much convenience that we don’t want to go out of our comfort zone to explore other things.
RCS on iPhone
Although Apple has added RCS support with iOS 18 beta, as of now it is only available in the US and select carriers. The availability will expand further later this year.
After the iOS 18 public release in October, it will be available to everyone.
To know if it’s available on your iPhone, go to Settings > Messages > RCS Messaging. If the RCS option is present, it’s available for your device and region. Many users have already tested the RCS, and most of the features are working fine. By the time the iOS 18 release to the Public, RCS may get even more features.
Will it end the Green bubble and Blue bubble?
No, Green and Blue bubble scene will remain the same. They will still be available to distinguish between messages sent to or from an Apple device or other device.
The technology is moving forward at a high pace and so are the messaging platforms. There was a time when we could only send texts without any additional features. But now things are quite complicated between different OS. Hopefully the RCS integration on iPhone will fix it.
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