Apple has confirmed that iOS 26.5 will add end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging in the Messages app, giving iPhone-to-Android conversations a security upgrade that has been missing since Apple first adopted RCS. The feature appears in Apple’s iOS 26.5 release candidate notes as “end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging (beta),” with availability limited to supported carriers and a rollout that will happen over time. In plain English: some green-bubble conversations are about to become more private, but not all of them at once.
RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is the newer messaging standard that replaced plain SMS and MMS for many cross-platform texts. Apple added RCS support to the iPhone in iOS 18, improving iPhone-to-Android messaging with features such as higher-quality media, read receipts, typing indicators and better group-chat behavior. The catch was that Apple’s initial RCS implementation did not include interoperable end-to-end encryption, meaning RCS conversations between iPhone and Android users were still not protected in the same way as iMessage or some Android-to-Android RCS chats.
The iOS 26.5 update changes that, but with a few technical footnotes worth reading before anyone declares the messaging wars over. MacRumors reported that RCS encryption is turned on by default in iOS 26.5 and that encrypted chats are marked with a small lock symbol. However, both sender and receiver must be using carriers that support the latest RCS requirements for the conversation to be encrypted. That means the feature is real, but carrier support will determine how quickly users actually see it in daily use.
The standards work behind this matters. In March 2025, the GSMA announced that RCS would support interoperable end-to-end encryption through the RCS Universal Profile, using the Messaging Layer Security protocol. GSMA described it as the first large-scale messaging service designed to support interoperable E2EE between different providers’ client implementations. That is the nerdy but important part: this is not just Apple and Google duct-taping encryption onto one app pair; it is part of a broader standards-based attempt to make cross-platform encrypted messaging work across the mobile ecosystem.
Google has supported end-to-end encrypted RCS inside Google Messages for years, but that protection was mainly for Google Messages users talking to other Google Messages users. Apple’s move is different because it brings iPhones into the standards-based encrypted RCS pipeline. 9to5Google reported that iOS 26.5 will enable encrypted RCS between iPhone and Google Messages on Android, while Engadget also reported that the update will roll out encrypted RCS for Apple-to-Android messaging where supported.
Apple had tested this before. 9to5Mac reported that end-to-end encrypted RCS appeared during the iOS 26.4 beta cycle but was removed before that public release. It returned in iOS 26.5 beta 1, where users could see an “End-to-End Encryption (Beta)” toggle under RCS settings. The difference now is that Apple’s iOS 26.5 release candidate notes include the feature without the earlier disclaimer that it was only being tested and not shipping in that release.
For users, the practical result is incremental but meaningful. Blue-bubble iMessage chats were already end-to-end encrypted, and SMS remains the old fallback with weaker privacy. What iOS 26.5 appears to do is narrow the security gap for iPhone and Android users who rely on the default Messages apps rather than switching to WhatsApp, Signal or another third-party service. It does not erase every difference between iMessage and RCS, and the beta label means Apple and carriers are still treating the rollout cautiously. But it is a significant step toward making ordinary cross-platform texting less outdated, less leaky and, finally, a little more worthy of the smartphones carrying it.
