With iOS 26.4 beta 2, Apple announced it will finally start offering developers the ability to test RCS end-to-end encryption between iOS and Android devices. While this new message standard won’t be available once iOS 26.4 is officially released, it seems the moment is approaching where sending messages from any device will be as convenient and safe as you’d expect.
According to Apple, “In this beta, RCS end-to-end encryption will become available for testing between Apple and Android devices. This feature is not shipping in this release and will be available to customers in future iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS 26 releases. End-to-end encryption is in beta and is not available for all devices or carriers. Conversations labeled as encrypted are encrypted end-to-end, so messages can’t be read while they’re sent between devices.”
That said, developers, and in the near future, public beta testers, will have a glimpse of how effortless it is to send messages from an iPhone to an Android device, while taking advantage of the several benefits of RCS, and without worrying about their messages not having a higher standard of security.
Apple and RCS support have a long history
While Apple is now on the horizon of fully adopting the latest RCS standard, the company wasn’t initially keen to support this improved interoperability between Android and Apple devices. In the 2022 Code Conference, the company’s CEO was taking questions from participants, and one of them asked if Apple would consider adding RCS to iMessage, which Cook said he doesn’t hear users asking for that (via Business Insider). The participant then said he had a hard time sending videos to his mom, and vice-versa, which Cook said, “Buy your mom an iPhone.”
A year after that, though, Apple announced it was planning to support RCS in the following year. This feature eventually launched with iOS 18 in September 2024, but without end-to-end encryption. In March 2025, GSMA released Universal Profile 3.0, which introduced proper cross-platform E2E encryption to the RCS standard.
While Apple said it would support this feature, only now with iOS 26.4 beta 2 do users have a clearer timeline of when that might happen. The company added it with the latest test version, but it said it won’t make it available until a later date, which could be with iOS 26.5 or even iOS 27 in the second half of the year.
iOS 26.4 has a lot more in store
Besides this end-to-end encryption integration coming with a later version of iOS 26, Apple is currently testing several new features for this new software release. For example, Apple Podcasts will get Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming technology, which will bring videos to Apple Podcasts. Apple says this will help boost the creator’s economy, as they will be able to get additional revenue from video ads.
Apple Music, on the other hand, is working on at least four new features to introduce with iOS 26.4. One of them is Playlist Playground, which uses AI to create a playlist for you. Users just need to tell what they want in that playlist, and Apple Music will create it for them. Besides that, Apple Music is tweaking albums and playlists with a new colored background, which also reacts to Liquid Glass icons on the display. There’s also a revamped Profile and Upcoming Concerts feature.
iOS 26.4 is also turning Stolen Device Protection on by default. This feature was introduced with iOS 17.3, and it creates a security delay when someone tries to deactivate your iPhone in an unknown location. Finally, this new version is bringing a tweak to the wallpaper settings experience, as it offers an updated design that makes it visually easier to select your favorite options. iOS 26.4 should also bring new emojis, but they haven’t been made available in this beta so far.
