Apple Prepares Secure RCS Messaging Between iPhone and Android

Apple will soon make cross-platform RCS messaging more secure. The company is reportedly laying the groundwork for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS with iOS 26.3 beta 2. This means messages, photos, and videos sent between iPhones and Android devices will be private.

iOS 26.3 beta 2 hints at secure cross-platform RCS messaging

As you know, iPhone users depend on iMessage for secure messaging, while Android users use apps like Google Messages that support RCS. For the uninitiated, RCS improves messaging with features such as high-quality photos, read receipts, and typing indicators. However, messages sent between iPhones and Android devices via RCS are not fully encrypted. This makes cross-platform RCS chats less secure.

It looks like Apple is working on end-to-end encryption for RCS in iOS 26.3 beta 2 (released recently). X user @TiinoX83 discovered evidence within the carrier bundles of the latest beta build. “Apple has added a new setting that allows carriers to enable encryption for RCS,” they noted. However, this appears to be limited to four major French carriers: Bouygues, Orange, SFR, and Free. Note that no carrier has enabled it yet.

In fact, last year, iOS 26 beta code had also revealed references to end-to-end encrypted RCS, suggesting that Apple had been testing the feature for some time. iOS 18 brought RCS support to iPhones using RCS Universal Profile 2.4. However, cross-platform RCS chats still lacked end-to-end encryption (because that profile doesn’t support it). Thanks to RCS Universal Profile 3.0, Apple can now introduce interoperable end-to-end encryption using the MLS protocol. 

In addition to E2EE, RCS Universal Profile 3.0 brings a host of iMessage-like features to cross-platform messaging. These include in-line replies, edit messages, unsend messages, and tapback reactions. Apple will likely release the final version of iOS 26.3 at the end of this month. However, this version will unlikely bring RCS support with end-to-end encryption. We may have to wait for the future point update. We’ll let you know as soon as the feature rolls out.