Your texts between iPhone and Android are about to get a lot more secure

(Credit: Max Buondonno / The Shortcut)

• 📱 Texting between iPhone and Android devices is getting a lot more secure

• 💬 The association behind RCS has announced an update to its protocols

• 🔒 With RCS Universal Profile 3.0, end-to-end encryption will work on iPhone-to-Android texts

• 🤖 It’s the first time E2EE has been supported on RCS outside of Android

• 📅 Both Google and Apple have confirmed it’s rolling out soon to users

Texting between iPhone and Android has only recently gotten better with RCS messaging in iOS 18, and now, it’ll get updated again to be more secure than ever before. The GSM Association has announced that the new “Messaging Layer Security” (MLS) protocol update for RCS will support end-to-end encryption messaging across platforms, which means you can comfortably send texts from an iPhone to Android and vice versa without worrying about prying eyes.

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RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is the replacement for SMS and allows you to send higher-quality photos and videos, see typing indicators, and more all through your phone’s messaging app. The iPhone was updated with the new protocol in iOS 18, bridging the messaging gap between iMessage and standard texting with Android users. However, only iMessage chats were encrypted on iPhones, while texts send between Android users via Google Messages were also locked up. Once an iPhone texts an Android user, that security goes away, which can be scary if you’re sharing sensitive information.

The new MLS protocol will fix that. GSMA says that RCS Universal Profile 3.0 will make it easier for companies to add to their devices. Apple confirmed in a statement to the press (via The Verge) that support for the new protocol will be added to its devices through future software updates to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS.

End-to-end encryption is a powerful privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported since the beginning, and now we are pleased to have helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to the RCS Universal Profile published by the GSMA. We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates.

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Google has also shared a statement about the new protocol, mentioning the fact that Android phones have had end-to-end encryption (or E2EE) for years. The company says it’ll work quickly to adopt the updated profile and integrate it into its mobile ecosystem.

We’ve always been committed to providing a secure messaging experience, and Google Messages users have had end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messaging for years. We’re excited to have this updated specification from GSMA and work as quickly as possible with the mobile ecosystem to implement and extend this important user protection to cross-platform RCS messaging.

Given the fact that Apple says “future software updates,” it’s anyone’s guess when encryption will be added to RCS. However, iOS 19 is right around the corner, and it’s set to be one of the biggest updates in iOS history. That could be a perfect time to couple in a major security upgrade like this, although it’s unclear whether it’ll ship when iOS 19 presumably launches in September or if we’ll need to wait for an iOS 19.x update.