if you Stay informed about all the news outside WWDC 2024 This week, you’ll learn that Apple is bringing the RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging standard to iPhones with iOS 18 later this year. That’s a win for Google, which has long supported RCS on Android. But what exactly is RCS? And why does supporting it matter?
The short version: it’s an upgrade to the standard SMS/MMS texting standards that smartphones have been using since the beginning. It brings better support for all the great features we’re used to in our messaging apps, like read receipts and images, and it adds a few more features Additional security layers too,
Yes, it’s the same as using iMessage or WhatsApp from Apple – although it’s not quite that simple. There’s no RCS app you can install, but you can find apps that support the RCS standard, as we’ll explain.
So the long version: Rich Communication Services is a basic standard rather than an app like WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram. It requires carrier support to work, which is why adoption was slow initially, though RCS now works in most countries and is supported by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) weren’t really built for the modern way we communicate through our phones, and RCS attempts to fix that. It adds or improves support for sharing large-resolution images and videos, group chatting, read receipts, video calls, and messages longer than 160 characters.
When RCS is supported in your phone’s default texting app, you can add reactions to messages, see when someone else is typing, and add extra elements like GIFs, stickers, and your current location to conversations — all of these are features you may be used to and accept as standard in other apps.
There are changes and upgrades behind the scenes as well. While SMS/MMS requires a data connection to your cellular network, RCS works over cell networks as well as Wi-Fi. If you don’t have a cell signal for whatever reason, but you can find a wireless network, your message can still go through.
