The RCS messaging system on Android phones offered a service such as the combination of SMS and online messaging platforms, allowing users to have an advanced messaging opportunity similar to iMessage. Companies like Google and Samsung also wanted Apple to bring RCS support to iPhones, mostly through push ads.
There was a surprising development in this regard today. In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple announced that RCS support will come to iPhone phones.
RCS support will come to iPhones next year
The unexpected statement was made by an Apple spokesperson. The spokesperson stated that the RCS standard will be added to iPhones next year: “Towards the end of next year, we will bring support to the RCS standard published by the GSM Association. We believe it will provide a better interoperability experience compared to SMS and MMS.”
But Apple adds that iMessage is still better and more secure: “RCS support will work with iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.”
What does RCS support mean for users?
Let’s talk about what RCS support means. Now, iPhone will be able to have read receipts, high-quality photo and video sharing and more in messages sent to people with Android phones. You can think of this as having conversations with Android users using blue text bubbles in iMessage. But this will be thanks to RCS, not iMessage. Additionally, Apple says it will add location sharing to the feature.
We don’t know much detail about Apple’s RCS support yet. However, 9to5Mac emphasizes an important issue and says that Apple does not open iMessage to other platforms. RCS will instead replace SMS and MMS and will be completely separate from iMessage.
Why did Apple suddenly make such a decision?
It is not difficult to guess that Apple did not make this decision because it wanted to. The reason for the change is probably the pressure created by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The law wanted technology giants’ services to be interoperable with other platforms.
We can say that this decision will be welcomed by users. No longer will users have to deal with frustrating situations like not being able to send high quality video in messages sent between iPhones and Androids.
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