With RCS, iPhone users can converse with non-Apple users without losing the enhanced features to which they’ve become accustomed in iMessage. That includes longer messages, HD media, typing indicators, and much more. Google Fi has several different options for data plans, and the company notes that RCS does use mobile data when away from Wi-Fi. Those on the “Flexible” Fi plan pay for blocks of data as they go, and using RCS messaging could inadvertently increase their bill.
If that’s not a concern, it’s a snap for Fi users to enable RCS on the new iOS update. Head to Apps > Messages, and then find the Text Messaging section to toggle on RCS. It may, however, take a few minutes for your phone number to be registered with the Fi RCS server.
In hindsight, the way Apple implemented iMessage was clever. By intercepting messages being sent to other iPhone phone numbers, Apple was able to add enhanced features to its phones instantly. It had the possibly intended side effect of reinforcing the perception that Android phones were less capable. This turned Android users into dreaded green bubbles that limited chat features. Users complained, and Google ran ads calling on Apple to support RCS. That, along with some pointed questions from reporters may have prompted Apple to announce the change in late 2023. It took some time, but you almost don’t have to worry about missing messaging features in 2025.
One of the best mostly invisible updates in iOS 18 was Apple’s decision to finally implement the Rich Communications Services (RCS) communication protocol, something that is slowly helping to fix the generally miserable experience of texting non-iPhone users with an iPhone. The initial iOS 18 update brought RCS support to most major carriers in the US, and the upcoming iOS 18.4 update is turning it on for a bunch of smaller prepaid carriers like Google Fi and Mint Mobile.
Now that Apple is on board, iPhones and their users can also benefit from continued improvements to the RCS standard. And one major update was announced today: RCS will now support end-to-end encryption using the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol, a standard finalized by the Internet Engineering Task Force in 2023.
“RCS will be the first large-scale messaging service to support interoperable E2EE between client implementations from different providers,” writes GSMA Technical Director Tom Van Pelt in the post announcing the updates. “Together with other unique security features such as SIM-based authentication, E2EE will provide RCS users with the highest level of privacy and security for stronger protection from scams, fraud and other security and privacy threats. ”
Enlarge/ Illustration of a person who refuses to check their iPhone’s messages until RCS is enabled on their MVNO carrier, out of respect for their Android-toting friends and family.
Getty Images
The future of inter-OS mobile messaging is here, it’s just unevenly distributed.
With iOS 18, Apple has made it possible for non-Apple phones to message with iPhones through Rich Communication Services (RCS). This grants upgrades from standard SMS text messages, like read receipts, easier and higher-quality media sending, typing indicators, and emoji/response compatibility. More than that, it allows for messaging while on Wi-Fi without cellular services and makes group messages far less painful to navigate and leave. Notably, RCS messages between iPhones and non-iPhones will not be encrypted, like Apple’s private iMessage service available exclusively between Apple devices.
iOS 18 makes these RCS upgrades possible, but certainly not guaranteed, at least as of today. Lots of people have already been enjoying cross-platform RCS messaging when texting with iOS 18 beta users. And iPhones on the big carriers’ plans can now trade RCS with Android users. But some iPhone users, particularly on mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs)—typically pre-paid services that do not own network hardware but resell major carrier access—do not have an RCS option available to them yet.
Google, a major proponent of Apple adopting RCS, confirmed to Ars that Google Fi, its own MVNO cellular service, does not, as of this writing, offer RCS chat for iPhone users on Fi messaging with Android users. Android users on Google Fi can use RCS with iPhones on other carriers, so long as that iPhone has “RCS interoperability enabled.”
Reading between the lines, you might conclude that Google is waiting on Apple to enable RCS on a network-by-network basis, both for Fi and for Android users at large. And a Google spokesperson would suggest that is correct.
“We have been working for a long time to accelerate the adoption of RCS, and are excited that Apple is taking steps to adopt RCS with the launch of iOS 18,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “Only Apple has the ability to enable RCS interoperability for iPhone users on Fi, and our hope is that they will do so in the near future.”
Ars has contacted Apple, along with carriers Mint Mobile and Boost Mobile, for comment on RCS availability across carriers and will update this post with new information. Some customers of MVNOs offered by the major carriers themselves, like those on Visible from Verizon, have reported having RCS access with iOS 18 installed.
Apple got the message, kept it green
Users of other MVNOs have asked on Reddit why their upgrade from basic SMS to RCS did not occur during the iOS 18 betas. A co-founder and current CFO of Mint Mobile said on September 9 that it would “be a few months, unfortunately,” as the “backend transition is taking some time… Believe me, we want this out as soon as we can,” wrote Rizwan Kassim.
A moderator for the Mint Mobile subreddit suggested that the backend transition involves carriers setting up a relay API for messages, adding that to the “carrier bundle” they deliver to customers and then providing Apple with information it can add to a future iOS update.
If you have an iPhone that isn’t on one of the major carriers’ primary plans (AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon) and want to check if RCS should be available, you can do that in Settings. Head to General, choose About, and scroll down to the Carrier line under your active SIM or eSIM. Tap the “Carrier” line until you see “IMS Status.” If it reads “Voice & SMS,” you don’t have RCS yet, but if you see “Voice, SMS & RCS,” you do.
The version of RCS that iPhone and Android users might use now, or soon, is the “RCS Universal Profile,” which does not include the encryption that Google’s own messaging apps provide over RCS. Google’s “Get the Message” campaign tried to shame Apple into adopting RCS. The related site notes that “Apple is starting to #GetTheMessage” with RCS adoption but that iPhone users will have to “check with your carrier” to turn on the feature.
The biggest feature in iOS 18, the one that affects the most people, was a single item in a comma-stuffed sentence by Apple software boss Craig Federighi: “Support for RCS.”
As we noted when Apple announced its support for “RCS Universal Profile,” a kind of minimum viable cross-device rich messaging, iPhone users getting RCS means SMS chains with Android users “will be slightly less awful.” SMS messages will soon have read receipts, higher-quality media sending, and typing indicators, along with better security. And RCS messages can go over Wi-Fi when you don’t have a cellular signal. Apple is certainly downplaying a major cross-platform compatibility upgrade, but it’s a notable quality-of-life boost.
Prioritized notifications through Apple Intelligence
Sending a friend an AI-generated image of them holding a birthday cake, which is not exactly the future we all envisioned for 2024, but here we are.
Apple
Example of a query that a supposedly now context-aware Siri can tackle.
Asking Siri “When is my mom’s flight landing,” followed by “What is our lunch plan?” can pull in data from multiple apps for an answer.
Apple Intelligence, the new Siri, and the iPhone
iOS 18 is one of the major beneficiaries of Apple’s AI rollout, dubbed “Apple Intelligence.” Apple Intelligence promises to help iPhone users create and understand language and images, with the proper context from your phone’s apps: photos, calendar, email, messages, and more.
Some of the suggested AI offerings include:
Auto-prioritizing notifications
Generating an AI image of people when you wish them a happy birthday.
Using Maps, Calendar, and an email with a meeting update to figure out if a work meeting change will make Federighi miss his daughter’s recital.
Many of the models needed to respond to your requests can be run on the device, Apple claims. For queries that need to go to remote servers, Apple relies on “Private Cloud Compute.” Apple has built its own servers, running on Apple Silicon, to handle requests that need more computational power. Your phone only sends the data necessary, is never stored, and independent researchers can verify the software on Apple’s servers, the company claims.
Siri is getting AI-powered upgrades across all platforms, including iOS. Apple says that Siri now understands more context in your questions to it. It will have awareness of what’s on your screen, so you could say “Add this address to his contact card” while messaging. You could ask it to “take a light-trail effect photo” from the camera. And “personal context” was repeatedly highlighted, including requests to find things people sent you, add your license number to a form (from an old ID picture), or ask “When is my mom’s flight landing?”
The non-AI things coming in iOS 18
A whole bunch of little boosts to iOS 18 announced by Apple.
On the iPhone itself, iOS 18 icons will change their look when in dark mode, and you can customize the look of compatible icons. Control Center, the pull-down menu in the top-right corner, now has multiple swipe-accessible controls, accessed through a strange-until-you’re-used-to-it long continuous swipe from the top. Developers are also getting access to the Control Center, so they can add their own apps’ controls. The lock screen will also get more customization, letting you swap out the standard flashlight and camera buttons for other items you prefer.
Privacy got some attention, too. Apps can be locked, such that Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode is necessary to open them. Apps can also be hidden and have their data prevented from showing up in notifications, searches, or other streams. New controls also limit the access you may grant to apps for contacts, network, and devices.
Messages will have “a huge year,” according to Apple. Tapbacks (instant reactions) can now include any emoji on the phone. Messages can be scheduled for later sending, text can be formatted, and there are “text effects” that do things like zoom in on the word “MAJOR” or make “Blown away” explode off the screen. And “Messages via satellite” is now available for phones that have satellite access, with end-to-end encryption.
Here’s a Messages upgrade that is absolutely going to surprise everybody when they forget about it in four months and then it shows up in a weird message.
The Mail app gets on-device categorization with Gmail-like labels like “Primary,” “Transactions,” “Updates,” and “Promotions.” Mail can also show you all the emails you get from certain businesses, such as receipts and tickets.
The Maps app is getting trail routes for US National Parks. Wallet now lets you “Tap to Cash,” sending money between phones in close proximity. Journal can now log your state of mind, track your goals, track streaks, and log “other fun stats.”
Photo libraries are getting navigation upgrades, with screenshots, receipts, and other banal photos automatically filtered out from gallery scrolls. There’s some automatic categorization of trips, days, and events. And, keeping with the theme of iOS 18, you can customize and reorder the collections and features Photos shows you when you browse through it.
This is a developing story and this post will be updated with new information.
Beeper desktop users received a message from co-founder Eric Migicovsky late on Friday afternoon, noting an “iMessage outage” and that “messages are failing to send and receive.” Reports had started piling up on Reddit around 2: 30 pm Eastern. As of 5: 30 pm, both Beeper Cloud on desktop and the Beeper Mini app were reporting errors in sending and receiving messages, with “Failed to lookup on sever: lookup request timed out.” Comments on Beeper’s status post on X (formerly Twitter) suggested mixed results, at best, among users.
The Verge, messaging with Migicovsky, reported that he “did not deny that Apple has successfully blocked Beeper Mini”; to TechCrunch, Migicovsky more clearly stated about an Apple cut-off: “Yes, all data indicates that.” To both outlets, Migicovsky offered the same comment, re-iterating his belief that it was in the best interests of Apple to let iPhone owners and Android users send encrypted messages to one another. (Ars reached out to Migicovsky for comment and will update this post with new information).
On Saturday, Migicovsky notified Beeper Cloud (desktop) users that iMessage was working again for them, after a long night of fixes. “Work continues on Beeper Mini,” Migicovsky wrote shortly after noon Eastern time.
Responding to a post on X (formerly Twitter) asking if restoring Beeper Mini’s function would be an “endless cat and mouse game,” Migicovsky wrote: “Beeper Cloud and Mini are apps that need to exist. We have built it. We will keep it working. We will share it widely.” He added that such an attitude, “especially from people in the tech world,” surprised him. “Why do hard things at all? Why keep working on anything that doesn’t work the first time?“
Beeper, as it worked shortly before launch on Dec. 5, sending iMessages from a Google Pixel 3 Android phone.
Kevin Purdy
Beeper’s ability to send encrypted iMessages from Android phones grew from a teenager’s reverse-engineering of the iMessage protocol, as Ars detailed at launch. The app could not read message contents (nor could Apple), kept encryption keys and contacts on your device, and did not require an Apple ID to authenticate.
The app did, however, send a text message from a device to an Apple server, and the response was used to generate an encryption key pair, one for Apple and one for your device. A Beeper service kept itself connected to Apple’s servers to notify it and you about new messages. Reddit user moptop and others suggested that Beeper’s service used encryption algorithms whose keys were spoofed to look like they came from a Mac Mini running OS X Mountain Lion, perhaps providing Apple a means of pinpointing and block them.
Members of the Discord focused on the original reverse-engineered tool on which Beeper Mini was built, PyPush, also reported that the tool was down Friday evening. Some noted that it seemed like their phone numbers had additionally been de-registered from iMessage.
Beeper Mini’s iMessage capabilities, for which the company was planning to charge $1.99 per month after a seven-day trial, were more than a feature. The company had planned to build additional secure messaging into Beeper Mini, including Signal and WhatsApp messaging, and make it the primary focus of its efforts. Its prior app Beeper, temporarily renamed Beeper Cloud, was marked to be deprecated at some point in favor of the new iMessage-touting Mini app.
This post was updated at 12: 50 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9, to reflect restored function to Beeper Cloud (desktop), and Migicovsky’s social media response after the outage.
