CUPERTINO, California, May 12, 2026, 03:06 (PDT)
Apple and Google have kicked off the beta launch of end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging, bringing more secure cross-platform texting to iPhones and Android devices—an area where iMessage has held the advantage on privacy. For now, iPhone users on iOS 26.5 with supported carriers and Android users running the current Google Messages app can access the upgrade.
iOS 26.5 is rolling out this feature to everyone—not just testers. RCS, or Rich Communication Services, is designed to take the place of SMS, offering things like better picture quality, typing notifications, and read receipts. The messages are protected with end-to-end encryption as they travel between devices.
The move addresses a real-world privacy shortfall: while Apple’s iMessage has had encrypted chats for its own devices, and Google Messages has provided encrypted RCS between Android phones, the gap remained—unsecured messages between iPhones and Androids, the notorious “green bubbles.” TidBITS
Apple says a lock icon will show up in RCS chats once encryption is active. Encryption switches on automatically and will start rolling out not only for new RCS messages, but for existing chats, too, the company said.
Google positioned the launch as something broader than just another Android update. “We knew we couldn’t stop there,” wrote Elmar Weber, Google’s GM for Android and Business Communications, as he pointed to Google Messages’ existing encrypted chats between Android phones. Blog
The GSM Association, which oversees the RCS Universal Profile, framed the move as a victory for industry standards. Speaking to The Hacker News, GSMA CTO Alex Sinclair described it as coming out of “close, cross-industry collaboration.” The Hacker News
Still, not everyone will see the change at once. Apple’s labeling the feature as beta, which means carrier backing is a must. Android users, for their part, have to update to the latest Google Messages. And if a conversation defaults back to SMS, the extra layer of protection just isn’t there.
Apple’s carrier lineup in the U.S. now flags beta end-to-end encrypted RCS at AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless, plus several other smaller carriers and mobile brands. Over in Canada, the same Apple page mentions Bell, Rogers, and Telus as supported as well.
This update arrives with Apple sticking to its guns on messaging. The company says iMessage is still end-to-end encrypted and, in its words, “the best way to communicate between Apple devices.” That’s a clear signal: RCS isn’t here to take over iMessage—Apple still sees it as just a bridge. Apple
iOS 26.5 brings a few other updates: there’s a new Pride Luminance wallpaper, and Maps now surfaces Suggested Places, tapping into nearby trends and your recent searches for its picks. MacRumors says this update is also setting the stage for ads appearing in Maps—a move poised to get even more pushback than the messaging tweak.
Apple’s official security page marks iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 as rolling out on May 11, covering iPhone 11 or newer and select recent iPad models. Patch notes in the same support doc flag issues resolved in Kernel, ImageIO, mDNSResponder, and WebKit.
Users will spot it right away—a lock icon inside their message thread. But for Apple and Google, the real challenge is wrangling carriers, client apps, and standards into acting like a single platform before anyone picks up on those moments when texting slips back to the old way.
