Google and Apple began rolling out end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging on Monday, meaning that for the first time, text conversations between Android and iPhone users can be protected from interception by default.
The feature, launching with Apple's iOS 26.5 update and the latest version of Google Messages, ensures that RCS messages sent between the two platforms cannot be read by anyone other than the sender and recipient, not by carriers, not by Apple, not by Google, and not by law enforcement without access to the device itself. A lock icon will appear in conversations on both platforms when encryption is active. The setting is enabled by default and will be automatically applied to new and existing RCS conversations over the coming months as supported carriers enable it.
The technical implementation follows the RCS Universal Profile standard published by the GSMA, the global mobile industry body, and represents the culmination of a cross-industry effort that Google has been pushing for years and that Apple resisted until competitive and regulatory pressure made further delay untenable.
That history is worth recounting because it explains why a feature that Google Messages has offered between Android devices since 2020 has taken until mid-2026 to extend across platforms.
RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is the modern replacement for SMS. It supports typing indicators, read receipts, high-resolution media, group chat management and, now, end-to-end encryption. Google adopted RCS as the default messaging protocol for Android in 2019 and spent the next four years publicly campaigning for Apple to do the same, running advertisements, social media campaigns and even a dedicated website urging Apple to "get the message."
Apple ignored these calls until September 2024, when it added basic RCS support to the iPhone with iOS 18. The move came after the European Union's Digital Markets Act created a regulatory framework that could have forced interoperability, and after internal pressure from users who were tired of degraded media quality and missing features when texting Android contacts.
Even then, Apple dragged its feet on the encryption component, the single most important security feature RCS offers over SMS. Testing between Apple and Google did not begin until February 2026, and the stable rollout only arrives now, twenty months after Apple first adopted the standard.
The delay left billions of cross-platform text conversations unprotected during a period of heightened concern about surveillance, data privacy and the security of personal communications. Every text sent between an iPhone and an Android phone during that window was transmitted without encryption, readable by carriers and potentially accessible to anyone who intercepted the traffic.
Related reading
- Google will let its AI image generator use your personal photos to create pictures of you and your family
- Google cracks down on 'back button hijacking' in Chrome
- Meta loses two jury trials over failure to police platform harms as internal research becomes liability
Apple's announcement on Monday was carefully worded, noting that iMessage "remains the best way to communicate between Apple devices," a reminder that the company still considers its proprietary messaging platform the premium product and RCS a concession to interoperability rather than a strategic priority.
For the roughly three billion people who use Android and the two billion who use iPhones, the practical effect is simple: cross-platform text messages are now private by default, provided both devices are running current software and using supported carriers. It is a meaningful improvement in digital privacy, and one that should have arrived years ago.
The recap
- Google begins rolling out end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging today.
- Google Messages previously had E2EE between Android devices.
- Google and Apple led a cross-industry effort, the company said.