Overview
- iOS 26.3 beta 2 contains a carrier bundle setting that would let networks enable or disable end-to-end encryption for RCS, according to code spotted by researcher Tiino-X83 and reported by 9to5Mac.
- The setting was observed only for France’s four major operators—Bouygues, Orange, SFR, and Free—suggesting limited market testing or preparation.
- GSMA documentation requires RCS clients to enable encryption by default unless prohibited, to apply any enablement at the market level rather than per user, and to show users the encryption status.
- Apple announced last March that it plans to support GSMA-standard E2EE for RCS, moving iPhone-to-Android chats closer to iMessage’s privacy model.
- Apple has not confirmed when E2EE will ship on iOS; reports indicate iOS 26.3 is due later this month, with the encryption feature potentially arriving in a subsequent update.