Google and Apple have quietly made a pretty significant move: end-to-end encryption for RCS messages between Android and iPhone users is rolling out today, meaning cross-platform texts are now private by default in a way SMS never was.
What’s Actually Happening Here
RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is the messaging standard that was supposed to replace SMS. It supports things like read receipts, high-res media, and typing indicators. Android users have had it for years. Apple added RCS support to iOS last year. The one thing that was still missing? Encryption between the two platforms. Until now.
Google and Apple led a cross-industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to RCS, and the rollout kicks off today in beta. What that means practically: when an Android user messages an iPhone user over RCS, the content of those messages can’t be intercepted in transit. Nobody in the middle can read them.
How to Know It’s Working
Google Messages users will see the same lock icon that already appears in encrypted Android-to-Android RCS chats. No setup required. Encryption is on by default and will be automatically enabled across new and existing RCS conversations over time.
To get it, Android users need the latest version of Google Messages. iPhone users need to be running iOS 26.5 with a supported carrier. Apple maintains a list of supported carriers on its support site.
Why This Matters
The green bubble versus blue bubble situation has been a long-running frustration. Apple’s iMessage has had end-to-end encryption baked in for years, but only between Apple devices. Texts sent from an iPhone to an Android phone dropped back to unencrypted SMS. RCS fixed the feature gap, but the encryption gap remained.
This closes it. It’s not a perfect analogy to iMessage or Signal, but for everyday cross-platform texting, it’s a meaningful step forward. Most people aren’t going to switch to a third-party messaging app just for encryption. Now they don’t have to.
More details on the rollout can be found on the Google blog.