Apple’s RCS End-to-End Encryption Arrives in Beta

Apple has taken a big step in making RCS messages more secure. The company has started testing end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging on iPhones in iOS 26.4 beta. While this is great news, the feature remains limited and does not yet work with Android devices.

Cross-platform encrypted RCS messaging is finally on the way

Apple brought RCS support with iOS 18, enabling modern messaging features such as read receipts and typing indicators between iPhones and Android devices. However, the initial implementation lacked end-to-end encryption support. Thankfully, this privacy protection has arrived on iOS 26.4 beta.

The release notes mention, “In this beta, RCS encryption is available for testing between Apple devices and is not yet testable with other platforms.” This means that the company only brings encrypted RCS between Apple devices running the latest beta build. Android users chatting with iPhone owners can’t take advantage of this protection yet, but it should be available in the future.

Since full cross-platform encryption needs both platforms (along with mobile carriers) to support the same security standards, Apple may need more time. The company said, “End-to-end encryption is in beta and is not available for all devices or carriers.” It has confirmed that RCS end-to-end encryption will be available in a future software update for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS.

For the uninitiated, GSMA introduced RCS Universal Profile 3.0 in March 2025. This brings support for interoperable end-to-end encryption based on the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol. As such, iPhone and Android devices can support encrypted RCS messaging, given that both platforms adopt the same standard.

While Google Messages supports the latest standard, Apple debuted RCS using the older Universal Profile 2.4 (which did not feature encryption). The Cupertino giant has finally started testing Universal Profile 3.0 for secure cross-platform messaging. We’ll let you know when iPhone begins to support end-to-end encryption with Android devices as well.