There was a lot of excitement when Apple finally brought RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging to iPhone a little over a year ago. The new standard permanently upgraded the process of sending messages between iPhone and Android devices. That said, iPhone owners are still waiting for Apple to support full end-to-end encryption when using RCS, which is one of the major benefits of RCS — beyond higher quality media sharing, reactions, read receipts, and other features the messaging protocol offers.
Earlier this year, Apple shared plans to bring end-to-end encryption to RCS on iPhone, but the company has yet to announce a specific timeline. However, new code found by Android Authority in the iOS 26 beta suggests that the privacy feature could arrive sooner rather than later. It would be a welcome addition, especially since it took Apple so long to bring RCS to iOS devices in the first place.
Encryption is one of the biggest benefits of RCS
While there are many reasons why RCS on iPhone is a big deal — like being able to edit messages sent between Android and iOS — the lack of end-to-end encryption is a significant absence. Then there’s the issue of the color of your text bubble dictating whether your friends will message you at all, which Samsung and other companies rallied behind as a marketing ploy to push Apple toward RCS.
But one of the primary reasons we’ve seen a push for RCS on iPhone is because it’s more secure than SMS messaging. Most of the foundational work has already been done to make RCS more accessible as a large-scale messaging service, as the GSMA announced a new iteration earlier this year called Universal Profile 3.0. The specifications for the new standard were reportedly developed through collaboration with multiple mobile manufacturers, phone network operators, and technology companies — including Apple itself.
Since the release of that standard in March, though, Apple has been relatively quiet about its plans for RCS. Thanks to the reporters at Android Authority, we now know that the code related to end-to-end encryption in the GSMA profile also appears in the code of every iOS 26 beta released to date. That doesn’t necessarily mean that RCS with end-to-end encryption is launching alongside iOS 26 later this year, but it does mean Apple is actively building toward it. And since it already appears in the code, don’t be surprised if it hits iPhones soon.