Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iOS 26.5 Brings End-to-End Encryption to iPhone-Android RCS Messages

Meanwhile the rest of the world moved on to messaging apps that just work. Like WhatsApp.

I’m not particularly a fan of WhatsApp or Meta. But it just works on any phone and any carrier. And it’s the default messaging app in huge parts of the world.

I just don’t understand why Apple Messages is still relevant.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: cyanite, bluecoast, mburkhard and 1 other person
hagar said:
Meanwhile the rest of the world moved on to messaging apps that just work. Like WhatsApp.

I’m not particularly a fan of WhatsApp or Meta. But it just works on any phone and any carrier. And it’s the default messaging app in huge parts of the world.

I just don’t understand why Apple Messages is still relevant.
Click to expand...
In places like China, most people do not use WhatsApp. And I don’t know anyone who uses Meta Messenger.

Here in Canada, I personally use:

#1: Apple Messages
#2: RCS and SMS
#3: WhatsApp

I wonder if Freedom Mobile will get support for this E2EE for Apple-Android right away. Apparently it’s currently being tested on Freedom on iOS 26.5 beta.
 
EugW said:
In places like China, most people do not use WhatsApp. And I don’t know anyone who uses Meta Messenger.

Here in Canada, I personally use:

#1: Apple Messages
#2: RCS and SMS
#3: WhatsApp

I wonder if Freedom Mobile will get support for this E2EE for Apple-Android right away. Apparently it’s currently being tested on Freedom on iOS 26.5 beta.
Click to expand...
I can assure you iMessage is not used in China. WeChat is the default app there.

And again, none of these alternatives require carrier support or are dealing with compatibility issues. The only reason one app is preferred over another is because everyone else is using it.
 
hagar said:
Meanwhile the rest of the world moved on to messaging apps that just work. Like WhatsApp.

I’m not particularly a fan of WhatsApp or Meta. But it just works on any phone and any carrier. And it’s the default messaging app in huge parts of the world.

I just don’t understand why Apple Messages is still relevant.
Click to expand...
I use WhatsApp all over the world as well. In my view, the US evolved to using iMessage and SMS/Samsung Messages/Google Messages, etc. because:

-People used the messaging app that came with the phone and the behavior stuck
-They didn't want to download and maintain a separate app
-iMessage "just worked" and Apple dominates the US market, whereas Android dominates Globally

In the end, with more choices, we all win.
 
Can‘t seem to get this to work (enabled & my carrier has support for it). All my RCS chats with Google Messages users show no padlock / encryption context. Most of them run the beta app, so I assume this is an iOS issue (7 tries, 7 times no encryption).

Also, can a topic about RCS stay on-topic for once without derailing into iMessage better, WhatsApp nr. 1 crap replies?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wizec
ZipZilla said:
I use WhatsApp all over the world as well. In my view, the US evolved to using iMessage and SMS/Samsung Messages/Google Messages, etc. because:

-People used the messaging app that came with the phone and the behavior stuck
-They didn't want to download and maintain a separate app
-iMessage "just worked" and Apple dominates the US market, whereas Android dominates Globally

In the end, with more choices, we all win.
Click to expand...
You might be surprised, but I would use iMessage with most people I knew in China. However, that's because they mostly had iPhones, but they would usually also use iMessage between themselves too in China. They would use WeChat to communicate with others in China though, especially Chinese Android users. I don't use WeChat at all, so for the few Chinese Android users I would communicate with, it would be SMS. WhatsApp is banned in China.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cyanite
Wizec said:
Interesting, I saw a statement from them that said they don’t, but when I chatted with their service rep they said they do… it would be nice to know which of the other carriers do or don’t. I can’t seem to get it working with any major carrier from my phone using Visible.
Click to expand...

Did you try sending messages to someone else testing an iOS 26.5 or Google Messages beta?
 
CocktailHour said:
If I understand the situation correctly, and I'm not certain I do, we also need to know about the carrier's encryption on the Android site, is that correct? And if my friend on the other end has an old version of Android, would that be a factor, too?
Click to expand...

Yes. It needs to be supported on both devices and the respective carriers.
 
Sounds great!

It's not going to get me off iOS 18 though.
Just used Nugget to disable OTA across my devices today in fact, after the old tvOS profiles expired.

😁
 
Entilzha said:
Do we know if this has been implemented in any android releases yet? Or is Apple ahead of the curve since they helped spearhead this official E2EE version in the first place?

Edit: I fully admit my ignorance on whether this has been implemented already on non-Apple devices! It would be nice if this was active today.
Click to expand...

It's not available in a public release even on Android phones yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Entilzha
RCS is so ****ing stupid and confusing for the non-technical people where I end up being tech support for them. I hope everyone turns it off just to make fun of the Android users. Get them to switch to Telegram. Infinitely better than iMessage/RCS/Google messages
 
  • Haha
  • Disagree
Reactions: gusmula, awesomecat and 0bit
Anyone know if T-Mobile will support this encryption? I know that they’ve supported RCS for a long time because most of my Android using friends and family are on T-Mobile.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back