The divide between Apple’s iMessage and the Google Messages app has been the supply of a lot debate ever since iMessage launched in 2011.
iOS 18 – which launched on September 16 and can ship with the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – brings the common Wealthy Communication Providers (RCS) protocol to the iPhone for the primary time.
Which means chats between iPhone and Android customers will lastly have high-quality media sharing, tapback reactions, audio messages, and different experience-improving options, the place beforehand, these options had been restricted to chats carried out inside Apple’s ecosystem, or inside the Android ecosystem.
RCS has been the usual for Android telephones for some time now, and Google is celebrating Apple’s acceptance of RCS as a step in the proper course, treating the rollout as a victory of its #GetTheMessage marketing campaign.
We’ve put collectively this information to carry you in control on all of the methods RCS improves messaging between iPhone and Android – and we have additionally highlighted a number of issues we nonetheless need to see added.
The best way to allow RCS
To start with, it’s a good suggestion to test that RCS is enabled in your iPhone or Android cellphone.
On iPhone, head to Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messaging, and slide the toggle to On.
Most fashionable Android telephones have RCS enabled by default, however to make sure, head to the Google Messages app, faucet in your profile image, scroll right down to the Messages Settings part, and faucet the RCS chats tab to discover a related toggle.
Advantages
1. Group chats
Creating a bunch chat between iPhone and Android customers with out utilizing a third-party app like WhatsApp was beforehand potential – with some main caveats.
A bunch chat between iPhone customers gives everybody concerned the total set of iMessage options, like audio messages, tapback reactions, and Memoji stickers. Including an Android person to the combination, nonetheless, would beforehand trigger all of those options to vanish, as your entire chat is converted to MMS.
RCS doesn’t replicate the entire capabilities of iMessage, but it surely does not less than enable for the sending of high-quality media, audio messages, and a smaller vary of tapback reactions.
This has the twin impact of permitting everybody in a bunch chat to make use of these fashionable options, and placing much less stress on Android customers who need to be part of iPhone-only conversations.
Messaging between iPhone and Android telephones has, till now, been restricted to the SMS/MMS customary, which solely permits customers to ship and obtain textual content, photos, and movies as much as a most of 5MB, or 30 seconds for video.
As a consequence of this small file dimension restrict, media despatched over MMS usually needs to be closely compressed, which means the recipient might obtain pixelated photos and video (for reference, one minute of uncompressed 1080p MP4 video takes up about 20MB).
The RCS customary coming to iPhone helps a most file dimension of 105MB per message, which means photos and video might be despatched and obtained in top quality. That stated, you should still want to make use of a devoted file switch or storage service for bigger recordsdata.
3. Learn receipts
What’s the one factor worse than being left on learn? Not realizing whether or not you’ve been left on learn.
Learn receipts – the notes or symbols that inform you when your recipient has seen your message – are a supply of certainty that almost all customers take without any consideration.
SMS and MMS messages lack the time-stamped learn receipts discovered on almost each different messaging service. iOS 18 and RCS lastly carry this now primary characteristic to cross-platform messaging.
4. Typing indicators
It may be onerous to get a way of the circulate of a dialog while you’re taking a look at a screenful of textual content, which is why typing indicators are so invaluable.
Typically represented as a message bubble containing animated ellipses, these notifications pop up on display screen when somebody is typing.
RCS assist permits typing indicators for cross-platform messaging, so that you’ll be capable to see when your pals are getting their responses prepared regardless of the platform.
5. Location sharing
iMessage, and third get together apps like WhatsApp, enable customers to share a location inside an interactive map, which has change into a key characteristic for security and comfort.
Apple’s implementation of RCS permits customers to share a location pin inside textual content conversations.
This doesn’t match the dwell monitoring performance of iMessage or third get together apps like WhatsApp, however once more, it’s a step in the proper course.
6. Ship messages over Wi-Fi
RCS brings extra choices to remain related by permitting customers to talk over cell information and Wi-Fi. For comparability, MMS messages can solely be despatched over a mobile community.
This has lengthy been a promoting level of third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Sign, however these apps lack the flexibility to entry mobile networks. For comparability, iMessage already supported Wi-Fi, cell information, and mobile community compatibility.
Total, that is a strong handful of recent options, however there may be extra Apple might do to make RCS messaging on iPhone even higher.
Downsides
1. No encryption – critically
The RCS protocol helps end-to-end encryption, which means your message is scrambled into code earlier than being despatched to the recipient, whose machine has the distinctive key wanted to decipher your message. In concept, unencrypted messages might be intercepted by third events as they’re transmitted from sender to receiver.
As The Verge notes, Apple has opted to make use of the essential model of RCS – the Common Profile – so as to add end-to-end encryption to its implementation of RCS, which means iMessage continues to be the one approach to ship encrypted messages via Apple’s first get together service.
We aren’t a fan of this transfer by Apple. Corporations must differentiate their merchandise, however doing so by providing suboptimal safety is genuinely anti-consumer.
2. No video calling
Whereas RCS helps video calling, it’s simple to see why Apple hasn’t included this in its primary messaging service.
FaceTime was so impactful that this branded identify continues to be used as a generic time period for video calling 14 years after it was first launched.
Apple seemingly needs to maintain its first-party video calling choices centralized. Android customers can be part of FaceTime calls from an online browser by way of a hyperlink despatched from an Apple person, however they’ll’t provoke a name themselves.
3. Inexperienced bubbles are right here to remain
The well-known – or notorious, relying on who you ask – inexperienced textual content bubbles related to Android telephones are right here to remain.
Virtually, these inexperienced bubbles merely sign {that a} message originates from exterior Apple’s iMessage protocol, however the otherness this means has impressed sufficient stigma to gasoline an anti-trust case, numerous memes, and an entire song by global rap star Drake.
This impact might be amplified by Apple’s giant market share within the US, which hovers around 55%. A report by Bloomberg Intelligence discovered that 79% of Technology Z choose iPhone to Android – this can be a demographic which incorporates youngsters who’re rising up increasingly reliant on technology for their social lives.
So, as pointless because the stigma round inexperienced texts is, it’s actual, and we hope that RCS implementation helps to allay this weird phenomenon.
The iPhone 16 lineup is the primary to ship with iOS 18, however RCS might be accessible on all iPhones that assist the replace, the oldest of that are the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max.
For ideas and updates about all the brand new options coming to iPhone, make sure to take a look at our devoted iOS 18 protection.
