Under constant pressure to adopt the Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging standard, Apple confirms iPhones will be compatible with the model via a software update. The information has been verified by the company on its website. 9to5Mac.
According to Apple, This update will be rolled out “next year” and will improve the quality of messages exchanged between iPhone and Android users. With the update, messages can be exchanged via mobile internet or Wi-Fi.
“Next year, we will implement support for the RCS Universal Profile, a standard currently published by the GSM Association (GSMA). We believe that RCS Universal Profile will provide a better interoperability experience compared to SMS or MMS. It will work with iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users,” the company said in a statement.
By adoption, Messages will be able to use more up-to-date features compared to the current standard across platforms. This means users will be able to send higher resolution files (photos and video), use functions such as read confirmation, location sharing and more.
On the other hand, according to the company’s statement: iMessage will continue to exist normally. This means Apple device users will be able to use both options separately.
Apple is already being pressured to adopt RCS
On different occasions, Apple has been pressured by companies like Google to adopt the RCS standard. The company launched a campaign in 2022 that spreads across pages on its website and videos on YouTube.
At the annual Google I/O 2023 event, Sameer Samat, the company’s vice president of product management, also took the opportunity to voice Apple’s reluctance to adopt RCS. Samsung, one of Apple’s main competitors, also released a promotional campaign called “#GetTheMessage” that talks about the differences between Android and iPhone messages.
In an interview last year, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook answered a question about the differences between the blue and green bubbles that separate the devices sending messages on the iPhone. He touched on this difference by saying “buy an iPhone for your mother” in a playful tone.
One of Apple’s main arguments for keeping iMessage as the mainstream standard is communication security. According to the company, the model’s encryption is one of the main advantages over RCS.
Source: Tec Mundo
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.
