End-to-end encryption with RCS: Hints of upcoming iOS implementation
Currently, messages sent via Rich Communication Services on iPhones can potentially be eavesdropped on. However, Apple is working on an improvement.
Google Messages and Apple iMessage: Nicely united thanks to RCS.
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RCS is a nice thing on the iPhone. Since Apple finally implemented the technology with iOS 18 after a long plea from Google, it's easier and more modern to communicate with Android users if you hadn't already used WhatsApp or Signal. For example, there are functions like a typing indicator, improved transmission of images and videos compared to MMS, and gradually more features like editing sent messages, as known from other instant messaging services. The problem: Rich Communication Services on the iPhone are still unencrypted. But that will hopefully change soon.
The technology has been around for a long time
End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is currently only possible from Android device to Android device thanks to Google's own technology. With the new RCS Universal Profile 3.0, the situation should finally improve, keeping eavesdroppers in the network – and thus theoretically the mobile provider – out. In iOS 26.3 Beta 2, it now shows that Apple is working on it.
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X user Tilno-X83, a mobile communications tinkerer from France, has pored over the code of the developer preview. It contains a new switch for functions that mobile carriers support, called “SupportsE2EE.” This allows iOS to check whether encryption is supported or not. However, this also means that Apple itself is not taking care of the feature but is leaving it to the telephone companies. The switch is also very sparse overall; in France, it's only available from the four major network operators. He hasn't discovered it in other countries at all yet.
Carriers are next after Apple
The standardization organization GSMA wants all RCS clients to activate encryption by default. The exception: If there is a legal prohibition for this in a region, this can be omitted.
Currently, there are controversial efforts, among others in the EU, to build backdoors into messengers – but a default ban on E2EE for RCS is not to be expected. The GSMA wants to protect most data with E2EE – not just texts but multimedia and even the typing indicator. Whether E2EE will actually be implemented with RCS in iOS 26.3 cannot yet be said. This will also likely depend on the respective mobile provider. For example, 1&1 only fully enabled RCS on the iPhone in December.
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