Google Messages Now Lets You Edit RCS Texts Sent to iPhones

For a really, really long time, Apple refused to support the RCS standard for messaging. But things definitely took a turn, a very nice turn, when Apple announced that it would finally support RCS messaging, and that finally happened with iOS 18. It now bridges a big gap between Android and iPhone users, who can use RCS to share messages more seamlessly.

You can now edit RCS messages sent to iPhones, but not the other way around

But even with all the progress, some features still lag behind between Android and iPhone. On the Android side, almost everyone uses Google Messages for RCS, which means there’s a level of consistency in how messaging works. Apple, on the other hand, is still missing a few key features, which can make cross-platform communication a bit tricky at times.

For example, remember the duplication issue on iPhones when using RCS in group chats? That kind of bug made things messy. But thankfully, things are starting to change, and it looks like they’re changing for the better. Speaking of which, Google Messages now finally lets you edit RCS messages sent to iPhones.

As spotted by Android Authority, Google has started rolling out the ability to edit RCS messages sent from Android to iPhone. This is thanks to the new Universal Profile 3.0 standard, which adds support for both message editing and end-to-end encryption. Until now, editing was only possible between Android devices, since iPhone’s initial RCS support was based on an older version that didn’t include editing capabilities.

Now, when Android users message someone running iOS 18.5 or the iOS 26 beta, they can long-press a sent message, tap the pencil icon, and make changes. So long as it’s within a 15-minute window. On the iPhone side, the edited message shows up as a new message with an asterisk, since iOS doesn’t fully support live RCS edits yet. And yes, iPhone users still can’t edit RCS messages they send to Android users.

The feature seems to be in early testing, and only a small number of users have access to it so far. Still, it’s a solid step forward.