Apple begins beta rollout of end-to-end encrypted RCS for iPhone-to-Android chats

Apple said Monday that a beta rollout of end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging is starting today, bringing default encryption to some iPhone-to-Android text chats for the first time when users are on compatible software and supported carriers.

In a Newsroom post published May 11, Apple said the feature begins rolling out for iPhone users running iOS 26.5 and Android users using the latest version of Google Messages. The change is significant because it adds interoperable encryption to some cross-platform RCS, or Rich Communication Services, conversations, narrowing a privacy gap that has long existed outside Apple’s iMessage system.

“Starting today, iPhone users running iOS 26.5 will begin seeing a new lock icon in RCS chats indicating that messages in the chat are end-to-end encrypted,” Apple said.

Apple said the encryption is on by default and “will be automatically enabled over time” for both new and existing RCS conversations. In plain terms, end-to-end encryption means the content of messages is scrambled so carriers and service operators cannot read it while the messages are in transit. That protection does not necessarily hide all metadata, such as who is messaging whom, when messages were sent, or delivery status information.

The rollout is not universal on day one. Apple said the feature is available only with “supported carriers” and “will roll out over time,” meaning users on both ends need compatible apps and carrier support before they will see encrypted RCS chats. Apple did not say that all iPhone-to-Android RCS conversations are now protected.

The update addresses a longstanding divide in messaging privacy. Apple noted that iMessage, its messaging service for communication between Apple devices, has long used end-to-end encryption. “iMessage was built with privacy in mind and has always been end-to-end encrypted. It remains the best way to communicate between Apple devices,” the company said. But when iPhone users texted Android users, those conversations historically did not have the same interoperable protection.

RCS support first came to the iPhone in 2024 with iOS 18, extending the newer messaging standard beyond Android. Google Messages had already supported end-to-end encryption for RCS in Google’s own implementation, but Monday’s announcement is notable because it applies to cross-platform iPhone-and-Android messaging rather than a single company’s ecosystem.

Apple framed the rollout as a joint effort involving Apple, Google and the GSMA, the mobile industry standards group. The standards basis is the GSMA’s RCS Universal Profile 3.0, published in March 2025, which added requirements for interoperable end-to-end encryption using Messaging Layer Security, or MLS, a protocol designed to secure modern messaging systems across different providers.

Privacy advocates had pushed for that outcome. In January, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said: “Apple and Google should deliver on their promise of interoperable end-to-end encryption of RCS.”

The change matters because RCS has grown into a very large messaging ecosystem. Industry estimates cited in recent research put RCS at roughly 2.1 billion to 2.5 billion monthly active or addressable users by late 2024 and early 2025. But that figure describes the broader scale of RCS, not how many people will immediately get encrypted cross-platform chats. For now, actual availability depends on the gradual rollout, carrier support and both users running compatible software.