Apple has finally agreed to support RCS on iPhones starting in 2024

Apple has resisted adopting the RCS standard for years despite pressure from Alphabet's Google and other companies. Last year, the Guardian reports, a reporter whose mother used an Android asked Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, if the company would improve messaging relations between the two platforms. Cook's response was: "Buy your mom an iPhone." He said he didn't see a high demand from Apple users for adopting RCS and didn't believe it was worth investing much energy into.

RCS is considered an industry standard for messaging that allows users to send and receive high-quality photos and videos and chat over wifi or cellular data. It also provides features like read receipts, among others. In contrast, when exchanging pictures and videos between Android and iPhones, the quality of the media degrades. Additionally, messages between iPhones and Androids are not encrypted, unlike iMessage between iPhones or messages sent via WhatsApp. This makes them more vulnerable to spying. In early 2020, 88 operators in 59 countries offered RCS to around 390 million monthly users.

It is not yet fully understood how RCS messaging will function on iPhones. However, according to 9to5Mac, "this is not Apple opening up iMessage to other platforms" (emphasis theirs). Instead, RCS will replace SMS and MMS but will "exist separately from iMessage when available."

In response to Apple’s announcement, Google said it was “happy to see Apple taking their first step by embracing RCS” and pledged to work with Apple to implement the standard. Google launched an ad campaign for Android in the previous year named "Get the message." The campaign encouraged Apple to adopt RCS and held Apple responsible for the dysfunction. Android's campaign website still states that texting between iPhones and Android phones feels outdated since Apple has declined to adopt modern texting standards.

The day before Apple announced RCS, the phone company Nothing revealed that their Android phones would feature a new capability to support iMessage. Following Apple's statement, Nothing's CEO Carl Pei took to Twitter/X to claim victory with a quote from former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

Jumped before being pushed

According to The Verge, Apple is likely changing its policies in response to the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires major companies to make their services compatible with other platforms. In September, the European Commission investigated iMessage to determine if it should be considered a "core platform service." However, Apple argued that iMessage is not popular enough in Europe for the rules to apply and has announced plans to file an appeal against the government's regulation of its App Store.