iPhone : RCS expected Date

 Google says Apple is bringing RCS to the iPhone in this fall

There’s nothing more entertaining than some good old pettiness between two tech conglomerates that have a higher combined market capitalization than just two countries’ GDPs, but that’s what we have here. Apple and Alphabet (Google) have very little love for each other, and nowhere is that more felt than when both companies take shots at each other in their marketing efforts. Recently, Google has turned up the wick when it comes to fighting Apple’s market share, leading to the “Best Phones Forever” campaign that has poked fun at the iPhone 15’s USB-C implementation and the lack of Apple RCS support. Reports are emerging in  a new landing page for Google Messages which talks about the first-party messaging experience, while also noting that RCS on the iPhone is coming in fall 2024. Following are the some of the important points:-

 RCS messaging is the new industry standard, offering features for a better texting experience similar to iMessage.

Google is taking shots at Apple in its marketing efforts, highlighting iPhone shortcomings in RCS implementation.

 Apple is slow to adopt RCS to keep users within the Apple ecosystem, but is set to adopt it in fall 2024.

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. Since texting became mainstream, the short message service (SMS) and multimedia messaging service (MMS) have been industry standards, but without any end-to-end encryption and the lack of any real features, it’s been surpassed by a relatively new standard in rich communication services (RCS) messaging. RCS messaging enables features that will make texting feel more like using instant messaging services or iMessage between two iPhones.

Importance of RCS 

Android’s website debuted a new Google Messages landing page that shows off all the features that the messaging app provides to users, such as artificial intelligence integration, personal stylization and security features. One specific card showcases RCS-specific features, such as high-resolution photos and videos. Upon clicking on “See more features” and scrolling down to the bottom, a promising message shows itself. It 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." A section describing the benefits of RCS — high-res photo/videos, typing indicators, and a better group chat experience — talks about how it’s “Coming soon on iOS.” 

Apple has been slow to adopt RCS messaging because it wants to keep people reliant on the Apple ecosystem and iMessage, forcing any texts between Apple and Android devices to be sent using the older MMS and SMS methods. In November 2023, Apple confirmed it would adopt RCS in 2024, you should say thanks to the European Commission for this expected change. Texting someone across the Android and iPhone picket line will still be annoying until later this year, but Google’s RCS-gloating at Apple’s expense is still wildly entertaining.

When Apple made the RCS announcement in November of 2023, it provided a “later next year” timeline. Most people have assumed that to mean iOS 18 rather than iOS 17. Google’s mention more or less confirms that. Meanwhile, it’s not clear whether it will arrive with the initial 18.0 release or a .X/point update in the last few months of 2024. In this section, Google also states that animated emoji reactions are “Coming soon with RCS.” The current approach is handled by the Google Messages client, while iOS has something similar. This might suggest that reactions will be part of the RCS specification in the future.

This is actually the second product page for Google Messages, with the original being messages.google.com. (That site hasn’t been updated to reflect the removal of the Google Photos integration.) Meanwhile, Google identifies Screen Effects and Custom Bubbles as “currently in beta.” In talking about Voice Moods, there is curiously no beta label. Some people have received Voice Moods, but it is not yet widely rolled out to the beta program. This includes a redesigned voice recorder UI, which opens a half-pane instead of requiring you to long-press. Google also makes a big deal about highlighting Photomoji, blocking spam, end-to-end encryption, Magic Compose, the Wear OS app, tablet experience, nudges/reminders and voice transcription for it's users.