Apple will finally bring RCS to iPhone in 2024

After relentless calls from Android and Google, Apple finally caves and has announced to bring Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging standard for its iPhone.

Its integration of RCS will launch later next year through a software update to iOS. This will bring many iMessage features to cross-platform messaging between iPhones and Androids—including high quality media sharing, read receipts, and typing indicators among others.

An Apple spokesperson told 9to5Mac:

Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association. We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.

The move reportedly comes as Apple’s response to regulatory pressure from the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law requiring major companies to make their services interoperable with other platforms.

Adding to that pressure is the persistent calls from Google and Samsung for Apple to support RCS with their fancy marketing campaigns.

While the bringing RCS to iPhone is a welcome addition, sadly for Android users, green bubbles are here to stay.

Apple does say that RCS will work ‘alongside iMessage’, implying that the Cupertino giant is adopting RCS separately from iMessage.

In fact, the company just confirmed to 9to5Mac that RCS messages will be green, just like SMS messages from before.

Apple also says that RCS will simply replace SMS and MMS—services which will “exist separately from iMessage” as a fallback when needed.

If RCS messages are indeed green bubbles, Nothing might have a solution with its recently unveiled Nothing Chats 33.

This app initially, launching for Phone (2) users in specific regions, can technically have iMessage features. Including the coveted blue bubbles possible through an elaborate process of having to login with an Apple ID.