RCS support could be the biggest update to Messages on iPhone since the launch of iMessage. RCS (which stands for Rich Communication Services) isn’t available to everyone yet, but is now more widely available to iOS 18 beta users.
After an initial but very limited RCS launch in iOS 18 beta 2, we’re now seeing RCS work with carriers outside the US in iOS 18 beta 3. According to 9to5MacThe service has been expanded to Videotron, Telus Mobility and Bell customers in Canada, Telefonica customers in Spain, SFR customers in France and O2 customers in Germany. This is in addition to existing support for RCS with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the US.
Ultimately, this still only involves a small number of carriers, but now that RCS on iPhone has expanded beyond the US, there’s a good chance it will be supported in the UK and Australia in the next iOS 18 beta.
That’s good news, and not just for iPhone users, as support for RCS will specifically improve communication between iPhones and Android devices. It supports many of the same features as iMessage and WhatsApp, like read receipts, GIFs, and the ability to share higher-quality images than SMS, but instead of a separate app that both parties have to use, it’s a messaging standard – so think of it as an upgrade to SMS.
The result is that even though Android users don’t have access to iMessage, they can still take advantage of advanced messaging features like the ones mentioned above when messaging an iOS user, even when they’re only using their default messaging app.
RCS gets even better
And in convenient timing, the RCS standard has also just been updated. The latest version (spotted by 9to5Google) includes the ability “for the message sender to edit, recall, and delete messages they’ve previously sent to themselves and the message recipient,” as well as “enabling replies and reactions (including custom reactions) to sent and received messages.”
The update also includes the ability to report messages as spam and support for ‘Custom Reactions’, which likely means things like Genmoji and Photomoji.
Hopefully this update will be widely available on Android soon, but if you don’t want to sign up for a developer beta of iOS 18, you’ll have to wait a little longer before you can take advantage of the RCS promotion if you’re using an iPhone.
You can expect full RCS support to roll out globally with the completed iOS 18 release, likely in September. Unfortunately, Android users will still have to deal with green chat bubbles when messaging their iPhone friends.