Thanks to a new update to RCS standards, Android and iPhone users will soon be able to send encrypted messages using RCS.
The GSM Association announced that the latest version of RCS includes end-to-end encryption (E2EE) based on the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol. This will allow encrypted messages to be exchanged between different platforms for the first time.
The GSMA began working on bringing E2EE to messages between Android and iPhone users in September last year. E2EE protects messages by ensuring no one, including messaging providers or phone companies, can read them. The new RCS standard was created with help from mobile operators, device makers, and tech companies like Apple.
“End-to-end encryption is an important privacy feature that iMessage has had from the start. We’re proud to help bring this to the RCS Universal Profile,” said Shane Bauer, an Apple spokesperson. “We’ll add support for encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future updates.”
Apple added support for iPhone RCS with the iOS 18 update in September. While iMessage already supports E2EE, RCS messages haven’t been encrypted across different platforms until now. Google Messages also added E2EE for RCS, but it only worked for conversations between Google Messages users, not with iPhone users or other RCS users on Android.
