Big changes are coming to the iPhone’s Messages app, as part of the iOS update that’s reported as being the “biggest-ever” in engineers’ eyes. And if you’re signed up to the new iOS developer beta, you can see those changes right now, it seems.
Apple Messages now offer RCS support, for some users of the iOS 18 developer beta.
Users are reporting that the benefits of RCS—a much more advanced system than SMS, which iPhones have previously rejected using in favor of its own iMessage set-up—are now usable on the iPhone for beat users, since Apple released the second iOS 18 developer beta on Monday, June 24.
In the beta, the settings for Messages now include a toggle marked RCS Messaging. Users can choose to turn this on or off, and some testers have now confirmed that they are able to send RCS messages to users with Android phones, as reported by Juli Clover at MacRumors.
RCS stands for Rich Communication Services and offers many benefits over SMS, including higher-resolution images and videos in messages, audio messages and improved group chats.
It also includes many features which iMessages has had for years, such as typing indicators that show the other person is writing to you right now, and read receipts. Android has similar capabilities but the thing is, until now, the two systems have refused to share these features between the platforms. Now, with RCS, they can, along with supporting larger file sizes and emoji reactions.
Oh, and before you ask, no, it won’t mean the end of green bubbles in your Messages. Those sent between iPhones continue to have the blue bubbles, the jealously guarded messages that some see as superior. But messages incoming from Android phones will still be green, even though they’ll have more features.
As several commentators have posted, it takes a little adjusting to, seeing read receipts on green bubbles.
Right now, only Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile are supported, and the public beta isn’t due until next month, so most of us need to practice patience right now, but this is a sign of very cool stuff on the horizon.