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Apple is preparing a major upgrade to iPhone messaging that could finally narrow the long-standing gap between iMessage and texts sent to Android phones. With iOS 26.3 beta, Apple has started laying the groundwork for encrypted Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging. If rolled out fully, chats between iPhones and Android devices could soon feel more private, modern, and seamless.
For years, iMessage has offered iPhone users features such as editing, unsending, and rich reactions. Messages sent to Android users, marked by the familiar green bubble, have lagged. Apple now appears ready to change that.
RCS first came to iPhone with iOS 18, working alongside SMS rather than replacing it. SMS remained the fallback when RCS was unavailable. Even then, RCS brought improvements such as higher-quality photo sharing, typing indicators, and read receipts.
However, Apple initially supported an older RCS Universal Profile (2.4). These limited features are compared to newer RCS versions already in use on Android. Advanced tools like end-to-end encryption, message editing, and in-line replies were still missing on iPhones.
iOS 26.3 beta shows that RCS Universal Profile 3.0 will be included, skipping the previous updates. This new standard could bring a lot of significant features to the conversations among users of iPhones and Androids, such as
End-to-end encryption, whereby no one other than the senders and recipients will be able to read the messages
In-line replies make conversations more understandable
Message editing options to allow you to resolve mistakes after sending
Unsend options for the retraction of messages across all recipients
Full reactions similar to iMessage Tapbacks
The purpose of these changes is to bring cross-platform chat compatibility closer to iMessage.
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iMessage has offered encryption since iOS 5, with added editing and unsending in iOS 16. RCS on iPhones has remained basic by comparison; this upcoming update could finally shrink that gap.
Encrypted RCS will be available on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches, as confirmed by Apple, but it has not given any specific dates. The support from the carriers will be very important; Apple will probably work together with Google to confirm a smooth experience. The feature might come around the time of either the iOS 26.3 or iOS 27 model.
