RCS Messaging in iOS 18: What iPhone Users Need to Know

[WarmWinterHat]

It‘s Apple deciding to fallback to SMS/MMS, not carriers. Apple can introduce toggles for auto-SMS fallbacks just as the UP spec mandates.

Do carriers still let you put a block on SMS/MMS messaging?

Back when it cost (here in the US), I put a full block on receiving and sending SMS after iMessage was released. I refused to pay $20/month for unlimited SMS on AT&T, or 10¢ each, and just used Google Voice.

 

[TimFL1]

Do carriers still let you put a block on SMS/MMS messaging?

Back when it cost (here in the US), I put a full block on receiving and sending SMS after iMessage was released. I refused to pay $20/month for unlimited SMS on AT&T, or 10¢ each, and just used Google Voice.

Never bothered checking since you can block MMS at the device level and SMS is free for me (international texts cost). Loads of carriers are already killing off MMS by default, only SMS remains due to OTP etc. usage.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I gotta seriously disagree here, it was definitely a "need." We all keep going back to the same premise, at least for US users, that installing a 3rd party app is a viable solution, it is NOT. I have literally hundreds of contacts, business associates, family, friends, acquaintances, and yes I do have a higher need than SMS provides for most of those. Now you tell me how easy would it be to contact all of them, ask them to all download a specific messaging app, trust that app because a lot of people are turned off by Meta/Facebook, then ask them to monitor and use that app to communicate with me. Now compound that, as you said, with dozens of different messaging apps. That is EXACTLY why we need an out of the box solution which EVERY consumer gets, at least in the US, when they purchase their phone notwithstanding the MVNOs who haven't implemented RCS yet but eventually will.

I'm not sure what point you are making about an American company. Apple are using the GSMA spec of RCS. Is the issue that the interface with the carriers is the Google fork of RCS? Is there less trust for Google than let's say Verizon who has some major issues with selling consumer information? I don't see what the big deal is, if you are a super spy and have to covertly message then I don't think you are going to be using RCS, otherwise I'm ok with Google knowing my wife needs a gallon of milk and Haagen Dazs *IF* that's even what happens. If I need the security I will and do use Signal, but even they have their issues from what I understand (ie: look up some of the CVS vulnerabilities), minor at best but still not 100%.

“Need”, in quotes? I agree 100%. If I need food, and you offer me a cold bare hot dog, I’m eating it! If I “need” food and I say, “Thanks for the offer, but I’m looking for something better” then I didn’t really NEED food. 🙂 (Substitute “hot dog” with the “basic food product” that best fits your constitution!)

In this case, solutions existed equally for everyone in the world with a smartphone able to download and run messaging apps (for every new app that existed starting with WhatsApp). Folks outside the US needed to avoid SMS charges, so they flocked to applications that offered that. A quick free download in exchange for not paying .10 to .50 of local currency per message (depending on where it was going/coming from)? No hesitancy, reluctance or confusion.

If SMS costs in the US at the time were like the rest of the world, your hundreds of contacts would have settled on one of those other apps a long time ago, most likely WhatsApp. That wasn’t part of thought process around messaging apps in the US. While some of the first iPhone plans had something offered 200 text messages a month as a limit, unlimited texting very quickly became commonplace right along with unlimited data (where the rest of the world was only given unlimited data).

And the “American Company” remark is, as you say, some people didn’t want to use a viable solution primarily because they’re turned off by “American Tech Company A”, but then being ok with another one that kinda/sorta is in the same boat. And, for those folks in the US that don’t want to deal with this via Meta or Google, then, there’s still a “need” for them.

 

[arc of the universe]

there's a lot of posts in this thread already so i may have missed it, but

in the case where the RCS message contained a photo, if for some reason it falls back to SMS, the photo does not get sent via SMS, right?

and, about cost:
there are a lot of carriers that still charge hefty fees for sending SMS while roaming outside of ones home network area. how does this switch to RCS affect that? will carriers probably no longer see a need to charge for RCS messages since RCS messages are sent over the internet and not by cellular?

 

[Naraxus]

Apple should have told Google/EU to pound sand. Apple has no obligation to make Google's customers not feel bad they have green bubbles.

 

[coolfactor]

What continues to be missed in these articles is that RCS only works over "data" like iMessage does. Turn off data and devices still drop back to SMS only.

 

[coolfactor]

there's a lot of posts in this thread already so i may have missed it, but

in the case where the RCS message contained a photo, if for some reason it falls back to SMS, the photo does not get sent via SMS, right?

and, about cost:
there are a lot of carriers that still charge hefty fees for sending SMS while roaming outside of ones home network area. how does this switch to RCS affect that? will carriers probably no longer see a need to charge for RCS messages since they use the internet?

Dropping back to a non-data connection would attempt to send media via MMS, if the receiving party has allowed that.

Some people still religiously turn off data and MMS to keep costs down.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

How could the GSMA carriers been looking at WhatsApp in developing the idea for RCS when the RCS project initially started in 2008 and WhatsApp in 2009?

The other OTT “OTT” apps before WhatsApp are why they started working on RCS. And, “working on it” is what they were still doing when WhatsApp came out. It’s not like they didn’t have an opportunity to make RCS the next thing, they just figured they had the time to futz around, not understanding that folks were moving into that area, and way faster than the GSMA could ever move. As WhatsApp grew, the features for RCS grew. These days, folks say how much RCS is like WhatsApp, not the other way around.

 

[Drs247]

Isn't everyone using WhatsAppi am not

Isn't everyone using WhatsApp?

Not me … META 🤢🤢🤮

 

[EugW]

In this case, solutions existed equally for everyone in the world with a smartphone able to download and run messaging apps (for every new app that existed starting with WhatsApp). Folks outside the US needed to avoid SMS charges, so they flocked to applications that offered that. A quick free download in exchange for not paying .10 to .50 of local currency per message (depending on where it was going/coming from)? No hesitancy, reluctance or confusion.

And I will reiterate again, WhatsApp is banned for 1/6 of the world's population. If you're regularly communicating with this population, then WhatsApp is a non-starter.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

That's always been my issue, all this blame when 1) the carriers let RCS die because they couldn't figure out how to make money from it, and 2) Apple offered iMessage to the carriers and they turned it down, again because they couldn't make money from it. And if you want to take it a step further where were governmental regulatory agencies overseeing the carriers and why didn't they mandate RCS be implemented?

It’s good that it finally came around due to the Chinese carriers making it a viable thing, but we’ve all seen what Google does with messaging platforms. I’d hope that the US carriers negotiated a specific level of service, but we’ll see what happens if Alphabet has a few bad quarters and needs to cut back on some of their less profitable ventures again.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Apple should have told Google/EU to pound sand. Apple has no obligation to make Google's customers not feel bad they have green bubbles.

Neither Google nor the EU has anything to do with this. China requires all 5g-capable phones to support RCS, and I'm thrilled that's it's coming.

Dropping back to a non-data connection would attempt to send media via MMS, if the receiving party has allowed that.

Some people still religiously turn off data and MMS to keep costs down.

MMS uses data. SMS does not.

 

[subjonas]

For us non-US users, this means nothing since very few people uses SMS, iMessage or the RCS standard at all.

I don’t understand the purpose of “this means nothing to me” posts.

 

[TimFL1]

there's a lot of posts in this thread already so i may have missed it, but

in the case where the RCS message contained a photo, if for some reason it falls back to SMS, the photo does not get sent via SMS, right?

and, about cost:
there are a lot of carriers that still charge hefty fees for sending SMS while roaming outside of ones home network area. how does this switch to RCS affect that? will carriers probably no longer see a need to charge for RCS messages since RCS messages are sent over the internet and not by cellular?

You can turn off MMS in settings. Other than that, you have to keep an eye out for SMS downgrades (e.g. spotty data connection). Apple so far refuses to add a setting to stop automatic conversation downgrades to SMS, with RCS looking identical to SMS (bar the small RCS placeholder in the text input box), you‘re at risk of accidentally sending SMS cross borders.

I‘ve submitted a feedback suggestion in the Feedback app to add a toggle for SMS fallback in the RCS settings, reasoning that SMS is often tied to fees (especially internationally) and requested they add the toggle to also comply with the Universal Profile, which has that as one of the user stories tied to SMS cross-over.

 

[TimFL1]

Neither Google nor the EU has anything to do with this. China requires all 5g-capable phones to support RCS, and I'm thrilled that's it's coming.



MMS uses data. SMS does not.

MMS does not use data in the sense that it‘s billed via data consumption in a lot of countries / for a lot of carriers. Here MMS are billed per text (I think it was 0,79€ / MMS?), it‘s the same way for most of my European friends.

SMS/MMS being sent internationally are usually all with a price tag, SMS flats only really cover your country of origin (in the times of global connections / friendships a costly thing).

 

[subjonas]

I really couldn't care less what it does. I have texts with one Android person, and that was my realtor. We're in the house now, so I won't be texting her anymore either. No one I know has or even thinks about getting an Android phone.

Why are you telling us this utterly useless information?

 

[insocal]

It doesn't seem like you can "REPLY TO" a specific text within thread in RCS. Unless I'm missing something?

 

[EugW]

MMS does not use data in the sense that it‘s billed via data consumption in a lot of countries / for a lot of carriers. Here MMS are billed per text (I think it was 0,79€ / MMS?), it‘s the same way for most of my European friends.

SMS/MMS being sent internationally are usually all with a price tag, SMS flats only really cover your country of origin (in the times of global connections / friendships a costly thing).

These days here in Canada, I guess because SMS is commonly used, most of the post-paid plans include unlimited international SMS and MMS, so there isn't as much incentive to download a third party messaging app. Mind you, it may be the other way around. Perhaps because people were disinclined to use third party apps, they gravitated towards plans that included unlimited international SMS/MMS. MMS isn't actually that commonly used, but it goes along for the ride in these plans.

OTOH, typically, data plans cost less in Europe than in Canada. So, I guess Canadian plans just "bake in" the extra cost of SMS/MMS into their mobile plans. (That and Canada is much less population dense, so there is higher cost to cover the population.)

 

[Stromos]

iMessage is literally proprietary encryption.

To clarify going against the RCS standard. Sticking to the RCS standard for compatibility is the right move.

 

[Downhilltenago]

Can someone detail explain like I’m 5 years old the negative of this?

 

[AlexJaye]

Well, Senator Elizabeth Warren was raging on about blue and green bubbles, completely clueless as to what they meant. Fortunately we will still have them so we can know how secure our texts are.

Liz & Co. tend to do this for many things, to be fair.

 

[spinedoc77]

“Need”, in quotes? I agree 100%. If I need food, and you offer me a cold bare hot dog, I’m eating it! If I “need” food and I say, “Thanks for the offer, but I’m looking for something better” then I didn’t really NEED food. 🙂 (Substitute “hot dog” with the “basic food product” that best fits your constitution!)

In this case, solutions existed equally for everyone in the world with a smartphone able to download and run messaging apps (for every new app that existed starting with WhatsApp). Folks outside the US needed to avoid SMS charges, so they flocked to applications that offered that. A quick free download in exchange for not paying .10 to .50 of local currency per message (depending on where it was going/coming from)? No hesitancy, reluctance or confusion.

If SMS costs in the US at the time were like the rest of the world, your hundreds of contacts would have settled on one of those other apps a long time ago, most likely WhatsApp. That wasn’t part of thought process around messaging apps in the US. While some of the first iPhone plans had something offered 200 text messages a month as a limit, unlimited texting very quickly became commonplace right along with unlimited data (where the rest of the world was only given unlimited data).

And the “American Company” remark is, as you say, some people didn’t want to use a viable solution primarily because they’re turned off by “American Tech Company A”, but then being ok with another one that kinda/sorta is in the same boat. And, for those folks in the US that don’t want to deal with this via Meta or Google, then, there’s still a “need” for them.

Stop it, you are being purposefully obtuse to make a terrible point. OBVIOUSLY no one needs text messaging like they need food, but it is important for communication, in particular having video/pictures with a decent resolution, group messaging capabilities, and the other things RCS brings. I get the attempt at humor, but taking it out of proportion to what was meant didn't work out well.

You are right solutions did exist, if I had a time travel machine I might be tempted to go back and fix the way things evolved. Unfortunately none of us can go back in time and change how the US text messaging market evolved. Which brings us to the present where most consumers just use what's installed on their phone in the US. You keep going back to the SMS charges for those not on unlimited plans but you don't know yet if Apple isn't going to have a toggle for that, I'd be very surprised if they don't, or the carriers for that matter. I'd be surprised that there isn't some sort of legality protecting consumers depending on the country. But suppressing something like RCS so you don't incur SMS charges isn't the solution.

I'm still not getting the American company thing, you don't want to use an American company? Or you are saying consumers don't want to use one? Or are you trying to say one American company is as bad as another American company? I have no idea what you are saying lol.

 

[spinedoc77]

You can turn off MMS in settings. Other than that, you have to keep an eye out for SMS downgrades (e.g. spotty data connection). Apple so far refuses to add a setting to stop automatic conversation downgrades to SMS, with RCS looking identical to SMS (bar the small RCS placeholder in the text input box), you‘re at risk of accidentally sending SMS cross borders.

I‘ve submitted a feedback suggestion in the Feedback app to add a toggle for SMS fallback in the RCS settings, reasoning that SMS is often tied to fees (especially internationally) and requested they add the toggle to also comply with the Universal Profile, which has that as one of the user stories tied to SMS cross-over.

Isn't there a way with your carrier to turn off SMS messages? I'd be surprised if whatever regulatory agency is in your country hasn't attempted to protect consumers, of course depending on which country.

 

[EugW]

Isn't there a way with your carrier to turn off SMS messages? I'd be surprised if whatever regulatory agency is in your country hasn't attempted to protect consumers, of course depending on which country.

Some carriers in many countries can indeed do this, but at least around here it is not recommended to block SMS completely since it's still used for 2-factor authentication and various other things.

 

[spinedoc77]

Some carriers in many countries can indeed do this, but at least around here it is not recommended to block SMS completely since it's still used for 2-factor authentication and various other things.

So why don't those concerned with SMS downgrades just turn RCS off? It's not an issue in the US where text messaging is free for the vast majority (all?) of plans. If those outside of the US mostly use Whatsapp anyway then their Whatsapp and basic SMS will still all function the same. Seems to me that's most likely why Apple put in a RCS toggle in the first place.