Apple introduces support for RCS messages with iOS 18 beta 2

Apple has released the second beta of iOS 18, which adopts the Rich Communication Service (RCS) protocol, which allows you to use all the features of iMessage to send and receive messages using data or WiFi between iPhone users and also from Android.

Until now, the company allowed sending text messages, photos and videos over WiFi networks or mobile data only to other company devices, that is, iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.

These messages are end-to-end encrypted and displayed in a blue bubble. However, when communicating with Android devices, iMessage allows you to use SMS/MMS message formats, which are not encrypted and appear in green bubbles to differentiate them.

It was at the end of last year when it announced that it would integrate the RCS protocol – already available in the Google Messages app since 2019 – into its messaging service. I would do it with the aim of offer “a better interoperability experience compared to SMS or MMS,” the company led by Tim Cook told 9to5Mac.

Now this same medium has reported, based on a series of experiences from different users shared in second beta.

Users who have already tried this feature – customers of US operators such as AT&T, T-Mobile y Verizon– have shared that the device indicates at the top of the iMessage chat that it is an RCS message.

It is worth remembering that this protocol, like iMessage, has multiple style functions that enrich conversations. This is the case of the writing indicator, the read information notification or the transfer of high-quality photographs and videos.

Unlike the Apple application, which uses characteristic blue bubbles for communications, RCS messages – whether text or multimedia files, MMS – will be displayed in green, as users who have already seen have seen. tested the functionality.