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iPhone-Android RCS Conversations Are End-to-End Encrypted in iOS 26.5

Yet they ruined blocking numbers in call log and imessage, to the point even report as spam no longer works. been reporting this issue since ios 26.4.1. And the problem started with ios 26.1.1 for most.
 
Wizec said:
I know that myself and my contacts are on supported carriers and they have the latest Google messaging app, but our chats are not encrypted.

I wonder if it works between supported carriers? Or does it only work if you’re both on the same carrier?
Click to expand...
My friend has Android. I just had him update his Google Messages app to the latest version. I am using iOS 26.5. We both have the same carrier that supports encrypted RCS, according to Apple’s website. Encrypted RCS still isn’t working for us.
 
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The title of this post is "iPhone-Android RCS Conversations Are End-to-End Encrypted in iOS 26.5"

How are they end-to-end encrypted if not a single thread is encrypted for anyone I know or can find online? The encryption is NOT working. Literally the entire internet is posting these headlines that RCS encryption works on iOS 26.5, but its NOT working. Why on Earth did Apple release this update when the encrytion is NOT working? Is it working for a single person right now? It was working for me on most of the iOS 26.5 betas but stopped working on the Release Canidates and this release.

I'm looking for a single person that this is working for. I have contacts on Google Messages beta and its simply not encrypted when messaging iPhones on this iOS 26.5 update even though it worked on iOS 26.5 betas.

Whats the point of this update if the encryption is NOT working???
 
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HouseLannister said:
Working fine for me. But all devices and all carriers in the conversation need to support it.

9to5mac.com

iOS 26.5: These carriers offer RCS end-to-end encrypted messaging - 9to5Mac

iOS 26.5 is here with RCS end-to-end encrypted messaging. Here’s the list of carriers that currently support the new RCS feature.
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
Click to expand...
Its encrypted for you when messaging an Android user? You actually see a lock icon showing its encrypted? On what carrier? It was working for me in almost all the beta builds but no longer.
 
Speedman100 said:
My friend has Android. I just had him update his Google Messages app to the latest version. I am using iOS 26.5. We both have the same carrier that supports encrypted RCS, according to Apple’s website. Encrypted RCS still isn’t working for us.
Click to expand...

Google has not enabled it for all Google Messages users yet. Moreover, many carriers are yet to enable it.
 
Not working for me - updated 20 mins ago and my Android texts don’t have the lock. They’re on Verizon, some AT&T and one has T Mobile.

I’m AT&T on my 16 Pro.
 
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zaxxon72 said:
So you have other carriers that support RCS?
In Switzerland, all carriers are asleep...
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Europe is just f... nightmare but I do not hold my breath for rest of world as well.
Here only 24 of about 160 carriers support it. Bloody hell 😂 I was planing to update to iOS 18 because of that and did not haha. And can not remember of missing anything. 😁
 
mixxster said:
After what update on Friday? What actually broke this from working?

The iOS 26.5 Release Candidate, or was it an update to Google Messages?
Click to expand...

Yes. For some users, it stopped working after the second Release Candidate on Friday. It stopped working for me even before I updated.
 
podycust said:
I wish Apple would bypass carriers for RCS as Vodafone uk still don’t support it on iPhone
Click to expand...
You need to understand the architecture of RCS. Carriers play a pivotal role in it fact. If it wasn’t because RCS needs carriers to be part of the messaging infrastructure Google would have put RCS on their own many years ago. Also worth mentioning is that without E2EE carriers have full visibility of your messages. This under the excuse of lawful intercept but they are always looking for extra data to profile you.
 
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This is fantastic. Keep going Apple until you have full feature parity with Google Messages on Android. RCS works perfectly for me between my iPhone and family members on Android. Love it
 
CarAnalogy said:
This continues to be the kicker for me that no one talks about.

All those years of "shaming" Apple into supporting an "open standard" and Google purposely gatekeeps RCS for themselves.

The only person I would actually use this with uses Textra because Google Messages sucks, and so none of this has ever worked because Google won't let them use the API, despite being cleared to control SMS by the system.

It's just Google's tenth attempt to control messaging and this one finally kind of worked by being the stealthiest and attacking it one layer down the stack.
Click to expand...

People keep forgetting this.

Google didn’t want Apple to support RCS to make it easier for iPhone & Android users to message each other (that problem was solved long ago by WhatsApp or other messengers).

Google wanted a messaging duopoly with iMessage in iPhones and Google Messages on Android devices. After failing umpteen times to launch a successful messaging platform they wanted to shame Apple in helping them achieve it.

Except Apple decided to support RCS through the industry standard instead of Google’s proprietary system.

Now people still use alternative messaging platforms because of all the issues and spotty support of RCS.

Maybe one day it’ll be almost as good as what we’ve had available for 10 years now on other platforms.
 
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Wizec said:
I know that myself and my contacts are on supported carriers and they have the latest Google messaging app, but our chats are not encrypted.

I wonder if it works between supported carriers? Or does it only work if you’re both on the same carrier?
Click to expand...
it works between supporting carrier networks, most networks already support RCS for android devices but not all support iphone RCS yet , USA probably has biggest network support for iphone & android RCS
 
justanotherdave said:
People keep forgetting this.

Google didn’t want Apple to support RCS to make it easier for iPhone & Android users to message each other (that problem was solved long ago by WhatsApp or other messengers).

Google wanted a messaging duopoly with iMessage in iPhones and Google Messages on Android devices. After failing umpteen times to launch a successful messaging platform they wanted to shame Apple in helping them achieve it.

Except Apple decided to support RCS through the industry standard instead of Google’s proprietary system.

Now people still use alternative messaging platforms because of all the issues and spotty support of RCS.

Maybe one day it’ll be almost as good as what we’ve had available for 10 years now on other platforms.
Click to expand...
Not true at all. Google realized that 90% of contact between iphone and android users in the USA was through SMS. They wanted to improve that experience by adding encryption and higher file size limits.

Cross platform messaging was not solved, if it was, then there wouldn't be dozens of complaints about pixelated videos being sent
 
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