Apple & Google should deliver on their promise of interoperable end-to-end encryption of RCS 
In late 2023, Apple announced its plan to join Google in replacing SMS and implementing Rich Communication Services (RCS). This standard improves many everyday experiences with text messaging, and most importantly adds optional support for end-to-end encryption. But Google and Apple need to work together to implement it.
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Why is this important?
While apps like Signal are a great way to communicate privately, most people still use the default app on their phone to chat with at least some of their contacts. For many people, this also means communicating across platforms, with Apple users chatting with Android users.
Both Apple and Google have made it so that by default, conversations inside their own platforms (Google Messages to Google Messages, and Apple Messages to Apple Messages) are end-to-end encrypted, but between the platforms is not (Apple Messages to Google Messages). This makes it very hard for most people to understand which of their conversations are private and which potentially are not. Even if you’re tapped into the nuance of this system, it’s very easy to slip up.
Just take a moment and try to describe this to your friends, where you need a set of caveats: Apple’s Messages is end-to-end encrypted, but only if everyone in the chat has an iPhone, and Google Messages is end-to-end encrypted, but only if everyone in the conversation is updated to a specific version of Android, their phone supports RCS, and you see a lock symbol in the conversation.
Enter the RCS standard. The RCS standard replaces SMS, the protocol behind basic everyday text messages, and MMS, the protocol for sending pictures in text messages. The RCS standard is being worked on by the same standards body (GSMA) that wrote the standard for SMS and many other core mobile functions. It has been in the works since 2007 and supported by Google since 2019.
In 2024, Apple finally joined Google in supporting RCS, which is why you may have noticed your cross-platform messages with friends and family suddenly supported images that didn’t look like they were sent over a 28.8K modem to a Geocities page.
Now, both companies need to support interoperable end-to-end encryption. This isn’t a pipe dream. Apple has said it’s working on end-to-end encryption for RCS, and Google confirmed it was too. We’ve seen signs of progress. End-to-end encryption is part of the RCS Universal Profile 3.0, which Google is currently testing in beta in its Messages app.
It’s important the two companies take the time to get end-to-end encryption right, but it’s very easy to see how a privacy-focused feature like this might get delayed in favor of shinier big bullet point items like AI. But they should not let RCS encryption fall by the wayside.
If you think this is a feature worth having, you should submit a feature request directly to Apple. Choose the “Feature Request” option in the “Feedback type” dropdown, and then remind Apple that you’re still waiting for RCS encryption. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t offer any way to submit feedback.