When Apple introduced RCS support with iOS 18 last September, they enabled cross-platform messaging between iPhone and Android users. This new feature brought RCS Universal Profile 2.4, allowing iOS users to send and receive high-quality images and videos from Android users.
For anyone who’s tried sending photos through MMS between devices, it’s clear that it’s far from ideal.
RCS also improves the messaging experience by enabling typing indicators, read receipts, and actual emoji reactions, which replace the awkward ‘Joe likes your message’ text. However, there’s one key feature that remains absent on iOS: end-to-end encryption. This is available in RCS Universal Profile 3.0, which Apple has yet to support.
End-to-end encryption ensures that only the sender and recipient can read the messages, preventing even Apple or Google from accessing the content. Right now, RCS offers encryption while the message is in transit, which protects the message during transmission but doesn’t secure it once it reaches its destination, where it can be intercepted.
Once Apple adds support for RCS Universal Profile 3.0, it will bring additional features to iPhones, iPads, and Macs, such as in-line replies, allowing users to reply directly to specific messages. It will also include the ability to edit or unsend messages, making it easier to correct mistakes or retract sent texts. The update will also support full Tapback features for RCS, allowing users to react to messages with emojis without needing a workaround.
Apple has not yet shared a timeline for adding RCS Universal Profile 3.0, as it still needs carrier support. The feature could make its way to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and watchOS 26 in the future, but it hasn’t appeared in any of the iOS 26 Developer Beta releases yet.