Improved cross–platform messaging coming in 2024

BY ALEX SUMMERSBY

THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF APPLE

APPLE HAS ANNOUNCED that it will support RCS messaging later in 2024. RCS (Rich Communication Services) is a protocol used on Android devices, and Google has been campaigning for Apple to support it to improve the cross–platform messaging experience for both iOS and Android users.

When you message another iPhone user using iMessage on an iPhone, you get advanced features such as read receipts, group chat, emoji reactions, end–to–end encryption, and an indication when the other party is typing a response. At present, if the other party has an Android device, you get none of these, because messages are sent using the legacy SMS texting protocol, or MMS if they contain any kind of media —and even then the images or video are scaled–down.

The SMS standard, introduced back in 1992, uses the cellular network only and does not support any of these advanced messaging features. It also does not handle media content, so messages with images, video, or audio are sent via MMS, on which carriers also impose limits (which differ from carrier to carrier) to protect their cellular bandwidth.