iOS 18 comes with bad news for users.
Updated on 18 September with GSMA’s announcement on the future of RCS.
As hundreds of millions of iPhone users update their devices to iOS 18, colorize their home screens and navigate their new Photos app, the truth is that this update is more about omissions than releases. Apple is not smart—at least not yet—and another confirmed gap is missing.
This bad news affects RCS—the biggest non-AI update coming with iOS 18, which for the first time brings rich messaging features to iPhone-to-Android message storage. The Washington Post Warns, “Android is still chatting with friends [with] Apple could have avoided security and other compromises.
There’s even more excitement as the shiny new SMS v2 texting update goes live. “We’ve known it was coming for almost a year, but today we’re waiting.” Android Police He says. “The texting landscape between the default messaging apps for Android and iPhones is getting a huge upgrade… Now that Apple has made iOS 18 official, iPhones can finally use the protocol to replace SMS and MMS.”
But those pesky green bubbles persist; It’s not a magic bullet. “The drama has been going on for so many days” Gizmodo “We need to identify the little things that add up to a great texting experience,” he says. That includes typing ellipses, reading receipts, and sharing blurry pictures. But with “growing pains,” it all depends on the generation of Android phones, network conditions, and the seamless cross-platform experience we’ve come to expect from other apps.
But a more serious issue is hidden from view. “In Some Important Ways” Post “Apple’s messaging app is stuck in the flip-phone era, undermining everyone’s messaging security.” when Gizmodo “We have to admit that iOS users will have a different experience for their iPhone friends than they do on Android. Unlike iMessage the version of RCS used by Apple is not encrypted.
So, is it inevitable and intractable? No – understandably not. “Apple largely blames limitations in technology linking iPhone and Android messaging apps” Post He says. “This is an incomplete explanation. Apple’s own choices also make chats with Android devices worse.
What this means is that—as I’ve explained before—Apple and Google can better compete with Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or texting within their own walled gardens to fully protect content with secure APIs between their messengers. Or maybe Apple provided an Android iMessage app.
Instead it doesn’t really compete with the cross-site security of those over-the-top messaging sites. And it’s a dedicated cross-platform app over and above some of the messy compromises from SMS V2.
While RCS has gained popularity thanks to Google’s managed push across the entire Android ecosystem, it has gained popularity with a proprietary client that adds a fully encrypted layer with other updates. RCS is not fully secure and is a limited protocol adopted by Apple for its iOS 18 update. Apple has said it will work with the mobile industry’s standard setters to push for an improved protocol. But it won’t come soon. Until then these compromises will remain.
The net result is that Apple’s iMessage update gives users in Europe or Asia or Africa—dominated by WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, and others—no reason to switch, and in the U.S., WhatsApp is on a tear. Underscoring Meta’s relentless privacy campaign that has been running throughout the year.
The recent travails of Telegram and its founder and leader Pavel Duro make this all the more interesting. Telegram’s problem has always been the gap between its marketing and its reality. Messenger runs a security cover, but doesn’t fully encrypt its messages like RCS does. Telegram’s real drama has always been its rude refusal to cooperate with the authorities-Until now, one assumesAnd its privacy—facilitates anonymity for users.
Duro’s arrest has put Telegram’s billions of users who now have access to messages sitting on Telegram’s servers, protected by nothing more than the platform’s own encryption (which holds the keys) and its voluntary policies.
The new RCS connection between iPhone and Android has other compromises—not surprisingly, the connection relies on the cellular protocol and requires more dedicated integration between platforms. None of these issues or compromises would be plaguing millions of users now if Google and Apple had planned to deliver a less clunky, more secure messaging experience between Android and iPhone.
While the initial RCS go-live was disappointing due to those glaring flaws, there may be some good news. GSMA, the mobile standards body, is published blog Tuesday following the release of iOS 18.
“Today, we’re celebrating a significant milestone in the evolution of messaging with the introduction of Rich Communication Services (RCS) support on iPhone,” GSMA’s Chief Technology Officer Tom Van Pelt posted. “This represents a step forward in bringing RCS’s feature-rich messaging to more users on both iOS and Android.”
While Van Pelt calls current feature updates “like typing indicators, read receipts, high-quality media sharing, and improved group messaging,” the real point of the post is more important.
“The next major milestone is the addition of critical user protections such as the RCS Universal Profile for interoperable end-to-end encryption,” he announced. “This is the first deployment of standardized, interoperable messaging encryption between different computing platforms, addressing significant technical challenges such as key federation and cryptographically-enabled team membership.”
Given Apple’s focus on security and privacy, it was surprising to see Google push this before Apple, but RCS on the iPhone has always seemed more important to Google than Apple. Users have long felt that Apple would not have taken this step if it had been avoided. That’s why it was such a surprising U-turn when it was first announced last year. I reached out to Apple for comment on the GSMA’s news in light of its iOS 18 launch.
“We’re proud to offer end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in Google Messages with RCS starting in 2020,” announced Elmer Weber, president of Android and Business Communications. LinkedIn. “We believe E2EE is a critical component of secure messaging, and we’re working with the broader ecosystem to bring cross-platform E2EE to RCS chats as soon as possible. Google is committed to providing users with a secure and private messaging experience, and we’re dedicated to building the E2EE standard for all RCS users, regardless of platform. .
The real question is why do this as an update to the standard RCS protocol rather than a simple and useful API between Google Messages (stock Android Messenger) and iMessage (stock iPhone Messenger), which is technically easier and more powerful. It also provides a better sense of end-to-end security. Beyond those two platforms, the feature-rich RCS is now becoming less interesting, especially in light of Samsung’s decision to switch to Android’s standard.
The other question is how long this will take and when users can expect an update that brings RCS closer to where other platforms are today. This is unlikely to happen anytime soon – until then there will be challenges.
“Even though messaging apps follow the RCS standard,” Samsung pointed out, explaining why it’s abandoning its own platform in favor of Google’s, “availability may be limited depending on which app the other party uses. That’s why we’ve made Google Messages to allow Galaxy users to communicate more freely.” We decided to make it a common messaging platform that also enables a messaging application to respond quickly and efficiently to changes in the RCS standard.
If you use WhatsApp, my choices would be Signal and WhatsApp – fully encrypted, seamless platforms, even with shared metadata in mind. But I don’t see a reason why anyone would replace their daily messenger with iMessage or Google Messages. It’s simply not worth the compromises or risks.
“Friend of animals everywhere. Devoted analyst. Total alcohol scholar. Infuriatingly humble food trailblazer.”