The RCS Universal Profile is an industry-agreed set of features and technologies that the GSMA has standardised to enable RCS to be widely implemented in products and services. The most recent version, RCS Universal profile 2.7introduced support for more advanced messaging features such as reactions, editing sent messages, and improved message indicators.
Apple now supports RCS on iPhone
Apple has adopted RCS in iOS 18, replacing the old SMS system for text messaging to Android devices. As a result, cross-platform messaging has improved a lot (for example, many users were annoyed by not being able to share high-resolution images).
However, the lack of E2EE is a glaring hole in messaging security; it means that business users will likely be using other messaging services to obtain critical information. Apple’s own messaging system supports E2EE, but not when shared with an Android device – hence the coloured bubbles that show you when a message is secure. You’ll know when you’re in an RCS chat with an Android user because you’ll see a little grey label that says RCS Message in the text field.
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