To the surprise of many, Apple has confirmed that iPhones will be compatible with the RCS messaging protocol starting in 2024. In this way, Cupertino residents aim to close – at least partially – the communication gap that currently exists with Android phones via iMessage.
RCS, also known as the Enhanced Communication Services Protocol, has become the Android standard for text messaging in recent years. And Google began to publicly reproach Apple for the lack of support for this technology. This has fueled the debate between “blue bubbles” and “green bubbles” in the US, where Apple mobile phones have more than 50% market share.
Due to mounting pressure from Mountain View and increased efforts to force iMessage integration into Android, Apple has finally adopted official support for RCS on the iPhone.. Of course, while the company has confirmed that this feature will come in a software update in 2024, it hasn’t provided more details on the matter.
Here’s how Apple confirmed the news in a statement sent 9to5Mac:
“Next year we will add support for the Universal RCS Profile, a standard currently published by the GSMA. We believe that the RCS Universal Profile will offer better compatibility than SMS or MMS. This will work in conjunction with iMessage, which will continue to work. to become a better, more secure messaging experience for Apple users.”
Manzana.
What does RCS support mean for iPhone?
It’s likely that for the vast majority of iPhone users outside the US, the RCS announcement won’t be a big deal. After all, messaging apps like WhatsApp or Telegram with cross-platform support are used daily and are extremely popular.
However, This is not the case in the United States.. There, as we said, the iPhone controls more than half of the smartphone market and iMessage is the preferred messaging platform for its users. Chatting between Apple mobile users isn’t much of an inconvenience, but the situation changes when chatting from an Android device.
Because iMessage is integrated into Apple’s Messages app, when the iPhone communicates with Android, it does so via regular SMS if it’s text only, or MMS if it includes multimedia content. However, the implementation is far from the best.
Bringing RCS to iPhone doesn’t mean Apple is opening up iMessage to Android or anything like that.. However, it will offer a more modern and less differentiated user experience when sharing data between iPhone and non-iPhone. For example, allow reactions with emoticons, read notifications, and send higher quality photos and videos.
A sharp change in strategy in Cupertino
Why is Apple announcing this now? First and foremost, it’s logical to think that you’re doing this to take the load off iMessage. Apple is struggling to build out its messaging platform not subject to the European Union Digital Markets Act. In fact, the Californians argue that it is not a popular enough service to be subject to the regulations.
However, both Google and the major phone carriers began pressuring Apple to open up iMessage. Given these conditions, offering RCS support on the iPhone, something Tim Cook and company have refused to do for years, may today be seen as the lesser evil. Will this be enough to end the controversy between blue and green bubbles in the United States? This is unlikely. Even then, we will have to wait for the protocol to be formally implemented. At least now it is logical to think that Google sees this announcement as a victory after years of persistence..
Source: Hiper Textual
I’m Ben Stock, a highly experienced and passionate journalist with a career in the news industry spanning more than 10 years. I specialize in writing content for websites, including researching and interviewing sources to produce engaging articles. My current role is as an author at Gadget Onus, where I mainly cover the mobile section.
