In a dramatic reversal, Apple announced this week it would offer RCS support starting in 2024. The decision effectively ends one of the most protracted and confusing conflicts between iOS and Android. If you’re not sure what any of that means, don't worry: We're about to lay out what could change with Apple’s adoption of the GSMA’s next-generation messaging protocol.
Short Message Service (SMS) is one of the most ubiquitous messaging protocols on the planet. It dates back to the early days of mobile technology. In December 1992, Neil Papworth, at the time an engineer at Vodafone, sent the first SMS text message when he wished his boss “Merry Christmas.” By the start of 2011, approximately 80 percent of all mobile phone users globally — an estimated 3.5 billion people — were sending SMS messages every month.
In 2023, however, the standard has some notable drawbacks. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, and texts you send can’t include photos, videos, audio or GIFs. For that, cell phones have long turned to a supporting protocol known as Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), but it too has its share of technical limitations, including woefully small message size limits. SMS also doesn’t support end-to-end encryption.
But for all the ways SMS feels dated in an era dominated by instant messaging platforms, it has one defining advantage: SMS messages are routed through your carrier’s mobile network, meaning a data plan isn’t necessary to use the technology. That fact has meant SMS has often served as a fallback for more advanced protocols, including iMessage.
RCS is short for Rich Communication Services, though sometimes it is also marketed as “Advanced Messaging.” Either way, it’s often positioned as a next-generation replacement for SMS and MMS. RCS allows users to take advantage of many features that were previously exclusive to over-the-top messaging platforms like WhatsApp.
For instance, the RCS Universal Profile includes full support for read receipts and typing indicators. It can also facilitate proper group chats, and allow users to send high-resolution images, video and audio clips. As of earlier this year, Google’s implementation of RCS also offers by default end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for both one-on-one and group chats.
Unlike SMS texts, RCS messages are routed over a mobile data connection or Wi-Fi link, with SMS functioning as a fallback. For that reason, the older protocol likely isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
One thing that’s important to remember about RCS is that it is not and has never been envisioned as a replacement or competitor to instant messaging apps. At its heart, RCS is a communication protocol between mobile telephone carriers and between a phone and carrier. Taking advantage of RCS does not require signing up for a new service. As long as your phone and carrier support RCS, and you’re using a compatible app such as Messages by Google, you can take advantage of everything the protocol has to offer — provided, of course, the person or people you’re messaging meet those same requirements.
Apple announced iMessage in June 2011, a few short months before Steve Jobs died later that same year. Unlike RCS, iMessage is a proprietary messaging protocol controlled exclusively by Apple and available (barring some unofficial workarounds) only on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac devices. Starting in 2024, Apple plans to integrate support for RCS in its Messages app. However, at the moment the two protocols do not communicate with one another. As such, Apple’s Messages app will default to SMS/MMS when users attempt to send texts and media files to someone with an Android phone.
From the perspective of an iMessage user, it can feel like Android users are stuck in a bygone messaging era — even though the latter is not at fault for the situation. Due to iMessage’s reliance on SMS/MMS for Android communication, media files end up pixelated, there aren’t any read receipts or typing indicators and forget about trying to involve multiple iPhone and Android users in a single group chat.
Although work on RCS began before Apple announced iMessage, the protocol had one major disadvantage that doomed it to a slow rollout. RCS is a multi-stakeholder project that includes the involvement of the GSMA, a trade body that represents the interests of the mobile communications industry at large. In 2015, Google took a more active role in the proliferation of RCS when it acquired Jibe Mobile. With Jibe’s technology as a base, it’s effectively Google that provides the glue that binds the RCS ecosystem together, but for a long time, the company did a poor job of aligning everyone involved in RCS toward a shared goal.
In fact, the early days of RCS were marked by false starts, with some carriers, including a group made up of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon forming a short-lived joint venture to push the protocol forward before eventually aligning themselves with Google. Even Samsung did its own thing for a while before it too eventually agreed to make Messages by Google the default messaging app it ships on phones in the US.
For that reason, Apple has had little reason to adopt RCS. After all, why would it give a bumbling competitor a freebie? And as recently as last year, it seemed there was little to no chance the situation was going to change anytime soon. "I don't hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy into that," Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Code Conference in 2022 when he was asked about RCS messaging. “Buy your mom an iPhone” was his final word on the matter.
But it was also last year that the European Union passed its landmark Digital Markets and Services Act (DMA). The legislation requires “gatekeepers” to not favor their own systems or limit third parties from interoperating within them. Gatekeepers are any company that meets specific financial and usage qualifications. Apple, according to the law, is one such company.
At the start of November, Google sent the European Commission arguing that iMessage violates the DMA. It’s probably not an accident that Apple's RCS announcement coincided with the deadline for companies to file challenges to the DMA at the EU’s General Court. On Friday, the EU announced Apple is contesting its DMA assignments. The details of the company’s complaints aren’t public, but Bloomberg reported last week Apple was planning to challenge the gatekeeper designations of both iMessage and the App Store.
It’s too early to tell. On Thursday, Apple provided precious few details about how it plans to display and treat RCS messages on its devices. What’s more, the company did note that iMessage “will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.” That said, even if you take that statement to mean iMessage will continue to display texts from non-Apple devices differently from those sent from an iPhone, iPad or Mac, Apple’s adoption of RCS will lead to a better user experience for both iOS and Android users.
Again, Apple needs to provide specifics, but it’s easy to envision a future where its Messages app, thanks to RCS, properly displays high-resolution images and videos sent from Android phones, and allows both iOS and Android users to take part in group chats without something breaking. On Thursday, Apple also said it would work with GSMA members to improve the existing Universal Profile protocol, with a focus on adding end-to-end encryption to the standard.
Of course, whether that interoperability ends the stigma around green bubbles is harder to answer.
Amazon is running Black Friday discounts on several models of its Echo Show display, including bundles with the Blink Mini camera and Kasa Smart multicolor lightbulb. The devices are 30 to 64 percent off.
An internal memo sent to OpenAI staff and obtained by Axios and The New York Times said Altman's firing had nothing to do with "malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices." It comes as The Information reports Altman has new ventures in the works.
Microsoft is running a deal on the Xbox Series S Starter Bundle for just $240, or $60 off. There are also huge savings on controllers in numerous colors from Amazon, alongside discounts on Xbox Series X bundles with Diablo IV or Forza Horizon 5.
Here are the best Black Friday 2023 deals available right now from Amazon, Target, Walmart and other retailers.
Nothing announced on X that it's pulling the Nothing Chats beta from the Play Store as it works out bugs. Since its release, critics have voiced concerns over the risks that come with Sunbird's iMessage workaround, which Nothing Chats is based on.
SpaceX launched the second flight of Starship from its Boca Chica spaceport on Saturday morning. A few minutes into launch, the Super Heavy booster exploded, followed by Starship itself.
Alan Wake II is fantastic. Remedy calls the game its "first foray into the survival horror genre'— which makes its reliance on guns perplexing.
If everything goes well during the pre-flight procedures, and if the weather cooperates, then we'll see Starship make another attempt to reach space.
Sam Altman and Greg Brockman have published a statement on the former's firing as CEO of OpenAI.
The new version of the hit post- apocalyptic zombie adventure will be available on the platform on January 19, 2024
OpenAI's board of directors announced that CEO Sam Altman is leaving both the company and the board, effective immediately.
Apple has opted to “pause” all advertising on the platform after its ads were discovered near pro-Nazi posts and X owner Elon Musk appeared to publicly endorse an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
MIT researchers developed an ingestible capsule that can monitor vital signs including heart rate and breathing patterns from within a patient’s GI tract.
Samsung Frame TVs are up to 35 percent off for Black Friday — the 55-inch model is just under $1,000 thanks to these discounts.
Valve has released a big 25th anniversary update for Half-Life. Along with four new multiplayer maps, there's widescreen support and much more. The game is free on Steam until November 20.
Numerous big tech companies are laying off staff in a tough economy. Here's all the larger job cuts so far.
The company has so far laid off more than 27,000 employees since last year.
Apple will support the RCS messaging standard next year.
Cadillac has unveiled a new entry-level compact electric SUV. The Optiq will sit below the Lyriq in Cadillac’s lineup, and images the automaker shared suggest it will also borrow from the more expensive SUV’s stylings.
Amazon is hosting a big Black Friday sale on many Anker power banks, cables, chargers and more.
Subscribe to our two newsletters:
– A weekly roundup of our favorite tech deals
– A daily dose of the news you need
Please enter a valid email address
Please select a newsletter
By subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy.

source