Apple starts testing end-to-end encrypted RCS messages on iPhone

Apple is starting to test end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messages pinch the developer beta of iOS 26.4 released Monday. Apple announced plans past twelvemonth to support the feature, and erstwhile afloat available, it will fto iPhone and Android users nonstop encrypted RCS messages to each different crossed platforms.

However, pinch this first implementation, Apple is only testing RCS encryption betwixt Apple devices. It’s “not yet testable pinch different platforms,” Apple says. The institution besides doesn’t scheme to vessel E2EE RCS messages pinch iOS 26.4; the characteristic will really vessel publically successful a “future update,” Apple says.

RCS messages significantly improve the acquisition of texting betwixt iPhone and Android devices, but cross-platform encryption has been a large point missing. The GSM Association, which helps create RCS, announced successful September 2024 that it was working connected E2EE messages arsenic portion of the “next awesome milestone” for the RCS Universal Profile, and Apple said in March 2025 that it would support E2EE RCS messages connected iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS successful “future package updates.”