To the surprise of many, Apple has confirmed that from 2024 the iPhone will be compatible with the RCS messaging protocol. In this way, those from Cupertino aim to close – at least partially – the communication gap that currently exists with Android phones through iMessage.
RCS, also known as “rich communication services protocol”, became the Android standard when sending text messages in recent years. And Google took to publicly reproaching Apple for the lack of support for that technology. This fueled the controversy of the “blue bubbles” against the “green bubbles” in the United States, where the Apple mobile phone has more than 50% of the market share.
With increasing pressure from Mountain View, and seeing increasing efforts to forcibly integrate iMessage with Android, Apple has finally moved to adopt formal support for RCS on the iPhone. Of course, although the company has confirmed that this feature will arrive through a software update in 2024, it has not provided more details on the matter.
This is how Apple confirmed the news in a statement sent to 9to5Mac:
“Next year we will add support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard currently published by the GSM Association. We believe that RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience compared to SMS or MMS. This will work in conjunction with iMessage, which will continue to be the best and more secure messaging experience for Apple users.”
Manzana.
What does it mean for the iPhone to support RCS?
It is likely that for the vast majority of iPhone users outside the United States, the announcement of the adoption of RCS will not be a big deal. After all, messaging applications like WhatsApp or Telegram, with cross-platform support, are everyday use and extremely popular.
However, This is not the case within the United States.. There, as we already said, the iPhone controls more than half of the smartphone market, and iMessage is the preferred messaging platform for its users. Communicating between Apple mobile users is not a major inconvenience, but the story changes when the chat is with an Android device.
Since iMessage is integrated into Apple’s Messages app, when an iPhone communicates with an Android, it does so through conventional SMS if it is only text, or MMS if it includes multimedia content. However, the implementation is far from the best.
The adoption of RCS on the iPhone does not mean that Apple is opening iMessage to Android, or anything like that. However, it will offer a more modern and less differentiated user experience when communication is between an iPhone and a “non-iPhone.” For example, allowing reactions with emojis, read notifications and sending higher quality photos and videos.
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