RCS in iOS 18: What You Need to Know About the Major Messages Change

iOS 18 will be released this fall with major improvements like Apple Intelligence and new customization tools, but one of the biggest changes is support for RCS.

With RCS, messaging between iPhone and Android works better than ever. Here’s what this means:

RCS makes iPhone and Android conversations better than ever

If you’re thinking about sending a text message, there are a few different text messaging methods you should know about.

iMessage is Apple’s proprietary text messaging system. iPhones, Macs, iPads, and other Apple devices can use iMessage to communicate with each other, and that remains the case in iOS 18. iMessage conversations use blue bubbles.

SMS/MMS makes up the text messaging system that the Messages app on iPhone uses by default when communicating with Android users. SMS/MMS conversations use green bubbles.

RCS is like a new and improved version of SMS and MMS that makes messaging between iPhone and Android better than ever.

RCS stands for Rich Communication Services and has been widely used on Android devices for some time. SMS/MMS is technically more popular but is an older technology and has many limitations.

For example, Androids that support RCS can respond to other messages with reactions like hearts, thumbs, and other tapbacks. With RCS, you can also send higher quality photos and videos, read receipts, writing indicators, and more.

In iOS 18, RCS is the new alternative solution when iMessage can’t be used

In versions of the Messages app prior to iOS 17, sending messages between iPhone and Android devices could be unreliable. This is because iPhone relied on SMS/MMS in these situations, and since these are older technologies, they don’t seem to work well with iMessage.

Once you get RCS support in iOS 18, you should be free from the headaches that previously caused you conversations with Android users. RCS conversations still use green bubbles instead of blue, but they’re more reliable for everyday use. You won’t have to worry about not receiving media because it’s too high quality, or about messages getting lost, as sometimes happens. And you’ll get more of the iMessage features you’re familiar with from your blue bubble threads.

It’s important to note that SMS and MMS aren’t disappearing, they’re just being relegated to the third line. RCS uses mobile data to send messages, not a traditional SMS plan. So in situations where data isn’t available but you have basic cellular connectivity, your iPhone will use SMS.

Available in Beta Today

RCS is currently supported in the iOS 18 beta from some US carriers. So if you’re running the beta and your provider is participating, you can test it. Note that the experience may change during the iOS 18 beta and not all features will be supported right away.