Overview
- Apple’s iOS 26.5, released Monday, enables end‑to‑end encrypted RCS for iPhone–Android conversations in a beta that will expand over the coming months.
- The feature works only when the iPhone runs iOS 26.5, the Android user has the latest Google Messages, and both lines are on participating carriers.
- Encryption is on by default and marked with a lock icon in RCS threads, which signals that message contents cannot be read while in transit.
- Support now includes AT&T, T‑Mobile, and Verizon in the U.S., plus Canadian networks such as Rogers, Bell, and Telus, with Apple and Google listing more carriers as activation grows.
- The rollout follows the GSMA RCS Universal Profile 3.0 using the Messaging Layer Security protocol, which the GSMA says delivers the first large‑scale interoperable end‑to‑end encryption across different messaging clients.