Apple Starts Testing Encrypted RCS Messaging Between iPhone-Android

One of the biggest moments in recent history came when Apple finally adopted RCS for messaging, allowing seamless communication between iPhones and Android devices. But end-to-end encryption between Android and iPhones still doesn’t work, and that’s finally starting to change for good.

Encrypted RCS chats between iPhone and Android are finally in testing

Last month, Apple started testing end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging, but it was limited to iPhone-to-iPhone chats. Now that Apple has begun rolling out the iOS 26.5 developer beta, it’s finally testing encrypted RCS messaging between Android and iPhones. As 9to5Mac points out, the toggle is enabled by default and remains active for Android users as well.

For some context, end-to-end encryption means only you and the person you’re chatting with can read your messages. No one else in between can access them, which has become standard across many messaging apps. Right now, RCS chats between Android and iPhone don’t have this protection. However, Android-to-Android RCS messages are already encrypted.

Once it starts rolling out, iPhone and Android users will have a secure platform to chat. That said, the feature is still in the developer beta stage, which means it’s in early testing. Apple will likely introduce it in a stable update in the coming weeks. Or we might hear more about it at WWDC, scheduled from June 8 to June 12.