Apple advances green bubbles with end-to-end encrypted RCS testing
What's the story
Apple has started testing end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) Rich Communication Services (RCS) messages with the developer beta of iOS 26.4. The move comes after the company's announcement last year to support this feature. Once fully implemented, it would allow seamless encrypted RCS messaging between iPhone and Android users across platforms. However, at this stage, Apple is only testing RCS encryption between its own devices and not with other platforms yet.
Feature rollout
E2EE RCS messages won't ship with iOS 26.4
The tech giant has confirmed that it doesn't intend to ship E2EE RCS messages with iOS 26.4. Instead, the feature will be made public in a "future update." This is a major step toward improving the messaging experience between iPhone and Android devices. The GSM Association, which develops RCS, had announced in September 2024 that it was working on E2EE messages as part of the "next major milestone" for the RCS Universal Profile.
Platform support
Apple had announced RCS E2EE support last year
In March 2025, Apple had announced its commitment to support E2EE RCS messages on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in "future software updates." This shows the company's dedication toward improving cross-platform communication security. The first developer beta of iOS 26.4 also comes with a feature that allows users to "seamlessly" switch between audio and video podcasts.