Secure Android and iPhone RCS messaging just got a big step closer

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Credit: Ryan Haines / Android Authority


TL;DR

• Apple is working on end-to-end encryption for RCS in iOS 26.3 Beta 2.
• The carrier bundles for the beta suggest Apple has added a new setting that would allow carriers to enable encryption for RCS for secure conversations between iPhone and Android.
• However, it appears that only four carriers (all residing outside of the US) have this line of code, and none of them have flipped the switch yet.

Shortly after the GSMA announced new Universal Profile 3.0 specifications for RCS last March, Apple committed to adding support for end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messages in future updates. While that was good to hear, it’s anyone’s guess as to how far in the future Apple is talking about. We spotted code back in August showing that Apple was testing the same Messaging Layer Security (MLS) encryption in iOS 26 that Google added to Google Messages. But here we are, still waiting for the feature to arrive. However, a new leak suggests that secure cross-platform RCS messaging between iPhones and Androids is another step closer to reality.

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