Earlier this year, Apple confirmed that it would support end-to-end encryption with RCS in a future software update. At the time, iOS 18 was still the latest version of iOS – which implied that the upgrade would be part of the next round of software – iOS 26.
So far, end-to-end encryption has not yet been delivered. But that’s not the only thing. Upgrading to end-to-end encryption would have also required other major upgrades to the RCS protocol, and as of iOS 26.1 beta, everything is still missing.
End-to-end encryption
For reference, Apple shipped the simplest version of the RCS protocol when it released it with iOS 18 last year. They used version 2.4, which only handled the basics, like read receipts, higher quality photos, and typing indicators. At launch, there wasn’t any sort of end-to-end encryption, mainly because the RCS open standard didn’t have it yet – not until version 3.0.
In March, Apple confirmed 9to5Mac that they would support RCS end-to-end encryption, shortly after the release of RCS version 3.0:
End-to-end encryption is a powerful privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported since the beginning, and we are now pleased to have helped lead a cross-industry effort to integrate end-to-end encryption into the Universal RCS Profile published by the GSMA. We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates.
Although end-to-end encryption is the key feature Apple is pushing with version 3.0 of RCS, RCS on iPhone will get a number of other new features as part of the upgrade.
RCS 2.7 Upgrades
As mentioned earlier, iOS currently uses RCS version 2.4. With RCS version 2.7the protocol has implemented a number of massive upgrades, putting it more on par with other modern text messaging platforms, such as iMessage:
- Online answers
- Good support for reactions
- Personalized reactions
- Ability to edit messages
- Ability to delete/recall messages
For now, RCS on iPhone supports reactions, but not correctly. Currently it’s just parsing fallback text that says something like “User added reaction x to message” – rather than properly handling an emoji reaction.
Beyond that, the ability to edit, delete, and reply to messages between iPhone and Android online will be a huge benefit. There’s still no timetable on when these upgrades should be expected, other than the fact that they’ll likely be part of the iOS 26 release cycle.
Since these upgrades are currently not supported in the iOS 26.1 beta, the next oldest window will likely be iOS 26.2, which is expected to debut around December. Only time will tell when RCS version 3.0 actually arrives.
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