CUPERTINO, California, May 12, 2026, 03:06 (PDT)
Apple and Google began rolling out end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging between iPhones and Android phones in beta, adding a new layer of privacy to cross-platform texts that have long trailed iMessage on security. The feature is available for iPhone users running iOS 26.5 on supported carriers and Android users on the latest version of Google Messages.
It matters now because iOS 26.5 has moved the feature from testing into a public software release. RCS, short for Rich Communication Services, is a newer messaging standard meant to replace SMS with higher-resolution media, typing indicators and read receipts; end-to-end encryption means messages cannot be read while they move between devices.
The update narrows a practical privacy gap: iMessage has long been encrypted between Apple devices, and Google Messages has offered encrypted RCS between Android devices for years. The missing piece was the green-bubble route between iPhone and Android.
Apple said users will see a lock icon when an RCS chat is encrypted. The company said encryption is on by default and will be enabled over time for new and existing RCS conversations.
Google framed the rollout as a cross-platform step rather than another Android-only upgrade. “We knew we couldn’t stop there,” Elmar Weber, Google’s GM for Android and Business Communications, wrote, referring to Google Messages’ existing encrypted messaging between Android devices. Blog
The GSM Association, the mobile industry standards group behind the RCS Universal Profile, also cast the change as a standards win. GSMA Chief Technology Officer Alex Sinclair called it the result of “close, cross-industry collaboration,” according to The Hacker News. The Hacker News
But the rollout could be uneven. Apple calls the feature beta, carrier support is required, Android users must be on the latest Google Messages, and chats that fall back to SMS do not gain the same protection.
In the United States, Apple’s carrier list shows beta support for end-to-end encrypted RCS at AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, along with a range of smaller carriers and mobile brands. The same Apple page lists support for some Canadian carriers including Bell, Rogers and Telus.
The update also lands as Apple keeps its own messaging hierarchy intact. Apple said iMessage remains end-to-end encrypted and “the best way to communicate between Apple devices,” a pointed reminder that RCS is still the bridge, not a replacement for iMessage. Apple
iOS 26.5 includes other changes, including a Pride Luminance wallpaper and Suggested Places in Maps, which shows recommendations based on nearby trends and recent searches. MacRumors reported that the release also lays groundwork for ads in Maps, a change likely to draw more scrutiny than the messaging update.
Apple’s security page lists iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 as released on May 11 for iPhone 11 and later and several recent iPad models. The same support document lists fixes across components including Kernel, ImageIO, mDNSResponder and WebKit.
For users, the clearest sign is simple: a lock in the message thread. For Apple and Google, the harder part is getting the carriers, clients and standards work to behave like one system before users notice what still falls back to old texting.
