End-to-End Encryption Coming for iPhone-to-Android RCS Messages

[Brandon916]

How many apple fans are angry that Apple added RCS?

 

[Chungry]

How many apple fans are angry that Apple added RCS?

No one really cares, but a few in this forum like to pretend they do for sport

 

[dchronus]

I am so confused why people would DISABLE RCS on iOS 18... if it's enabled for the carrier and both parties, it's slightly better... if it's not, it resorts back to SMS/MMS 🙄

 

[Chungry]

I am so confused why people would DISABLE RCS on iOS 18... if it's enabled for the carrier and both parties, it's slightly better... if it's not, it resorts back to SMS/MMS 🙄

They are just joshin

 

[brofkand]

Phone numbers as addresses are terrible. They are short-lived, with laws requiring telcos to recycle “inactive” phone numbers within a matter of months. They are easily stolen by bad actors. Caller IDs are easily spoofed. They cease to work overseas, unless you pay exorbitant roaming fees. They change if you move countries.

All of these problems were solved decades ago by superior technologies such as email. And yet the world still revolves around phone numbers. I can’t even book a bus trip without being forced to provide a phone number. Let alone open a bank account, where I lose access to my money if any of the numerous issues I posted above occurs.

The world needs to stop using phone numbers as identification.

For the millionth time, the goal of RCS was never to solve all the world’s problems - it was simply to replace SMS and MMS with something more reliable.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Do the carriers have to support it to work cause if so good luck with that

I’m thinking Google is ONLY thinking of this for the US market in a way to restrict the growth of WhatsApp. Since they’re behind all the carriers in the US, carrier support is built in.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I am so confused why people would DISABLE RCS on iOS 18... if it's enabled for the carrier and both parties, it's slightly better... if it's not, it resorts back to SMS/MMS 🙄

For the same folks that don’t want to use WhatsApp, they don’t want their messages going via Meta OR Google. By turning off RCS, the messages go through the carrier.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

No, they didn't support it because it is more reliable than SMS and gives a better user experience - and Apple doesn't want that. They use iMessage to build the walls around their garden 10 feet taller.

SMS is entirely plain text - at least RCS is encrypted in transit.

They didn’t support it because carriers didn’t require it. Carriers didn’t require it because they were not able to figure out how to make money from it.

The moment a carrier required it, they quickly enabled it.

 

[witchcult]

End-to-end encryption that works until it doesn't.

(fallback)

so.. iMessage?

 

[svish]

Hopefully it does come soon.

 

[iFunk]

I think it’s wonderful you still reach out to those less fortunate than yourself. Charity work can be difficult.

All in a day's work. Easier to block them although I do love the Pixel Pro 9 which I also own lol.

 

[WebHead]

Literally no one outside the US cares for RCS.

 

[ChemGolf]

The first thing I did on release day, I deleted my WhatsApp account. So handy to have only one messaging app now.

 

[ChemGolf]

Literally no one outside the US cares for RCS.

well, I from Germany do. Deleted WhatsApp on release day of iOS18.

 

[ChemGolf]

How many apple fans are angry that Apple added RCS?

RCS is the best feature of iOS18. I deleted WhatsApp and now have one messaging app for all.

 

[TimFL1]

well, I from Germany do. Deleted WhatsApp on release day of iOS18.

How do you fare with that? I could convince exactly one contact to use RCS with me (anti-Meta / WhatsApp personality) and one friend from abroad who just rolls with it. The rest does either not have Google Messages / RCS or responds via WhatsApp cause "SMS costs money to send".

I have 10 times the contacts on iMessage, which took me years to pull off (mostly close gaming friends and my direct family who has to essentially roll with it since I‘m their free Apple genius / sponsor).

 

[Unregistered 4U]

How do you fare with that? I could convince exactly one contact to use RCS with me (anti-Meta / WhatsApp personality) and one friend from abroad who just rolls with it. The rest does either not have Google Messages / RCS or responds via WhatsApp cause "SMS costs money to send".

I have 10 times the contacts on iMessage, which took me years to pull off (mostly close gaming friends and my direct family who has to essentially roll with it since I‘m their free Apple genius / sponsor).

If they’re not a part of a tight knit group of folks that keep in constant contact via a group message (where everyone uses the group messages to avoid sending the same content to multiple contacts), I can see how disabling WhatsApp would be simple task. It could be that they rarely received messages of any import via WhatsApp as well.

 

[WebHead]

I'm dying to delete WhatsApp but here in Australia the carriers don't yet support RCS

 

[Stuartglossop]

isn't WhatsApp totally encrypted? and its cross platform?

Yeah and its available worldwide unlike this RCS thing!

 

[Stuartglossop]

I'm dying to delete WhatsApp but here in Australia the carriers don't yet support RCS

Same here in the UK. Only one carrier is supporting it.

 

[ChemGolf]

How do you fare with that? I could convince exactly one contact to use RCS with me (anti-Meta / WhatsApp personality) and one friend from abroad who just rolls with it. The rest does either not have Google Messages / RCS or responds via WhatsApp cause "SMS costs money to send".

I have 10 times the contacts on iMessage, which took me years to pull off (mostly close gaming friends and my direct family who has to essentially roll with it since I‘m their free Apple genius / sponsor).

no problems at all. Didn‘t need to convince anyone. Nearly all of them had RCS enabled and didn‘t know. They simply use it now.