In November 2023, Apple announced that it would bring Rich Communications Service (RCS) to iPhones “later next year,” suggesting that the new messaging standard would arrive in iOS with iOS 18. However, the company hasn’t offered any update on the matter since then, and as such, there was no information available on the exact timeframe for the arrival of the new feature to iOS. Fortunately, that’s changing today.
While Apple hasn’t offered an update on the arrival of RCS in iOS, surprisingly, Google has. According to the landing page of Google Messages on the Android website, RCS is coming to iOS in the fall of 2024 (via 9To5Google). The website says “Apple has announced it will be adopting RCS in the fall of 2024. Once that happens, it will mean a better messaging experience for everyone.”
That means we are only 6-9 months away from seeing RCS on the iPhone. Once that happens, Android users will be able to chat with iPhone users using Google Messages or Samsung Messages and enjoy many features, including typing indicators, quote replies, and message reactions, without using a third-party application, which is currently available only between iPhone-to-iPhone and Android-to-Android chats.
