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If you’ve been keeping up with tech news and headlines for the past couple of years, then it’s likely that you’ve seen Google’s many efforts to get Apple to adopt support for rich communication services (RCS) chats on its devices, which finally came to fruition with the arrival of iOS 18.
READ: Apple Finally Joins the Party with RCS Support on iOS 18
For tech fans – especially those in the US – this means that iOS and Android users could finally message each other without hitches or the limitations of iMessage, finally putting an end to the “blue and green bubble” stigma that’s been a source of annoyance for some users. iPhones can finally receive better-looking photos and videos, with support for read receipts, message reactions, and more.
I was one of many who looked forward to seeing how Apple would go about supporting RCS within its platform. As my wife and I both use different phones (she has an iPhone while I use a Pixel), we mostly used third-party apps to send media to each other, effectively bypassing the iMessage barrier that seems so prevalent for many within the United States. With RCS now on iOS, I looked forward to being able to send her files without the need for a third-party platform. After updating our iPhones to iOS 18 though, all the hype and interest I had for RCS support on iOS significantly slowed down.
I did manage to RCS chat with some friends from my iPhone to their Android device, with said friends being on EE and O2. With the exception of some unavailable reactions, all of the features pretty much were there – read receipts worked, I was able to send photos, and typing indicators were present as well. It seems that as long as your carrier supports RCS for iOS 18, you’ll be able to chat with Android users and other iPhone users on supported networks.
READ: RCS messages between Android and iPhone is about to get more secure
That being said however, RCS support on iPhone still isn’t as widespread as it already is on Android devices, and so far Apple seems content on just complying with the essentials to meet regulatory standards, and it’s important not to expect the same level of features that you’d get on RCS with Android on an iPhone. The lack of carrier support (at least at this time) is a major issue that needs to be addressed, and given the indifference of most iOS users regarding the feature, it could be a while before we see RCS out in full force on the Apple side of things.
How has your RCS experience on iOS been so far?
The post Has the Hype for RCS on iPhones Finally Died Down? appeared first on Phandroid.
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READ: Apple Finally Joins the Party with RCS Support on iOS 18
For tech fans – especially those in the US – this means that iOS and Android users could finally message each other without hitches or the limitations of iMessage, finally putting an end to the “blue and green bubble” stigma that’s been a source of annoyance for some users. iPhones can finally receive better-looking photos and videos, with support for read receipts, message reactions, and more.
I was one of many who looked forward to seeing how Apple would go about supporting RCS within its platform. As my wife and I both use different phones (she has an iPhone while I use a Pixel), we mostly used third-party apps to send media to each other, effectively bypassing the iMessage barrier that seems so prevalent for many within the United States. With RCS now on iOS, I looked forward to being able to send her files without the need for a third-party platform. After updating our iPhones to iOS 18 though, all the hype and interest I had for RCS support on iOS significantly slowed down.
After updating our iPhones to iOS 18 though, all the hype and interest I had for RCS support on iOS significantly slowed down.
While it is now available on iOS 18, it should be noted that RCS is still subject to carrier restrictions and availability. As my wife and I are on different networks here in the UK, I managed to get RCS support on my iPhone 14 with EE, while her iPhone 16 Pro on Three still doesn’t have the feature. As expected, my messages to her still showed up as SMS messages.I did manage to RCS chat with some friends from my iPhone to their Android device, with said friends being on EE and O2. With the exception of some unavailable reactions, all of the features pretty much were there – read receipts worked, I was able to send photos, and typing indicators were present as well. It seems that as long as your carrier supports RCS for iOS 18, you’ll be able to chat with Android users and other iPhone users on supported networks.
READ: RCS messages between Android and iPhone is about to get more secure
That being said however, RCS support on iPhone still isn’t as widespread as it already is on Android devices, and so far Apple seems content on just complying with the essentials to meet regulatory standards, and it’s important not to expect the same level of features that you’d get on RCS with Android on an iPhone. The lack of carrier support (at least at this time) is a major issue that needs to be addressed, and given the indifference of most iOS users regarding the feature, it could be a while before we see RCS out in full force on the Apple side of things.
How has your RCS experience on iOS been so far?
The post Has the Hype for RCS on iPhones Finally Died Down? appeared first on Phandroid.
More...
