Tech giant Apple is preparing to all but eliminate old text messages in some of the biggest updates to its Messages app in years, with the upcoming iOS 26.4 this spring.
The new iOS update would expand Apple's support for RCS (Rich Communication Services) in a bid to get rid of the limitations of traditional SMS.
The update aims to create a modern cross-platform messaging experience that aligns with modern communication practices.
RCS is said to be the long-awaited successor to SMS and MMS in the telecom industry, offering features that users have come to expect from modern messaging apps like WhatsApp. It facilitates high-quality media sharing, read receipts, write indicators, and reliable delivery over Wi-Fi or mobile data.
A noteworthy point for iPhone users is that RCS bridges the gap between Apple's iMessage ecosystem and Android devices, replacing the unreliable “green bubble” SMS experience with a native chat experience.
“End-to-end encryption is a powerful privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported from the beginning, and now we are pleased to have helped lead a cross-industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to the universal RCS profile,” Apple said.
This means that encrypted conversations, which were previously limited to iMessage-to-iMessage chats, will now become text messages from iPhone to Android, with privacy protections guaranteed across all platforms.
iOS 26.4 has been reported to bring a number of functional improvements that were missing from previous RCS implementations. Features like inline replies, message editing, unsend, and richer reactions will definitely improve the user experience and align Apple's RCS offering with that of its competitors.
These developments point to a clear shift in Apple's approach towards cross-platform communication, as internal beta versions indicate active collaboration with mobile networks to support this transition.
