Getty Images
The future of inter-OS mobile messaging is here, just its distribution is uneven.
With iOS 18, Apple has made it possible for non-Apple phones to send messages with iPhones via Rich Communication Services (RCS). It offers upgrades from standard SMS text messages, such as read receipts, easier and higher-quality media sending, typing indicators, and emoji/reaction compatibility. What's more, it allows messaging over Wi-Fi without cellular services and makes navigating and leaving group messages much easier. Notably, RCS messages between iPhones and non-iPhones will not be encrypted, just like Apple's private iMessage service is only available between Apple devices.
iOS 18 makes these RCS upgrades possible, but certainly not guaranteed, at least as of today. Many people are already 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 those on mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) — typically prepaid services that don't own the network hardware but resell major carrier access — don't have an RCS option available yet.
Google, a major supporter of Apple's adoption of RCS, confirmed to Ars that Google Fi, its own MVNO cellular service, does not offer RCS Chat for iPhone users on Fi messaging with Android users, as of this writing. Android users on Google Fi can use RCS with an iPhone on other carriers, as long as that iPhone has “RCS interoperability enabled.”
Reading between the lines, you might conclude that Google is waiting for Apple to enable RCS on a network-by-network basis, for both Fi and Android users. And a Google spokesperson suggests that's correct.
“We've been working to accelerate RCS adoption for a long time, and we're excited that Apple is taking steps to accelerate RCS adoption 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 it's our hope they will do so in the near future.”
Ars has reached out to Apple as well as carriers Mint Mobile and Boost Mobile for comment on the availability of RCS across carriers and will update this post with new information. Some customers of MVNOs offered by the major carriers themselves, such as those on Verizon's Visible, have reported having RCS access when they have iOS 18 installed.
Apple got the message, it's keeping it green
Users of other MVNOs have asked on Reddit why their upgrade from basic SMS to RCS didn't happen during the iOS 18 beta. The co-founder and current CFO of Mint Mobile said on September 9 that “unfortunately it will take a few months,” as “the backend transition is taking some time… believe me, we want to release it as soon as possible,” Rizwan Qasim wrote.
A moderator on the Mint Mobile subreddit suggested that the backend transition involves carriers setting up a relay API for messages, which they add to a “carrier bundle” to be distributed to customers and then provide the information to Apple which it can add to a future iOS update.
If you have an iPhone that's not 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 so in Settings. Go to General, choose About, and scroll down to the Carrier line below your active SIM or eSIM. Tap the “Carrier” line until you see “IMS Status.” If it says “Voice & SMS,” you don't have RCS yet, but if you see “Voice, SMS, and RCS,” you do.
The version of RCS that iPhone and Android users can use now or soon is the “RCS Universal Profile,” which doesn't include the encryption that Google's own messaging app offers over RCS. Google's “Get The Message” campaign sought to shame Apple into adopting RCS. The related site notes that “Apple is starting to #GetTheMessage” with RCS adoption, but iPhone users will “have to check with their carrier” to enable the feature.
Apple announces RCS support in November 2023. The company has chosen a particularly strong green color to denote messages that aren't sent over its own iMessage servers — but are culturally associated with Android — that has inspired a Drake track, a month of wild efforts by messaging startup Beeper to work around its Apple-only nature, and part of a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit against Apple. RCS support, whenever it comes to any carrier, won't change the color of cross-platform messages.