In the event you’ve been maintaining with all of the information out of WWDC 2024 this week, you will know that Apple is bringing the RCS (Wealthy Communication Providers) messaging normal to iPhones later this yr with iOS 18. That is a win for Google, which has lengthy backed RCS on Android. However what really is RCS? And why does supporting it matter?
The quick model: It is an improve on the usual SMS/MMS texting requirements that smartphones have been utilizing from the beginning. It brings higher help for all of the cool options we’re used to in our messaging apps, like learn receipts and pictures, and it provides some further safety layers too.
Sure, it is loads like utilizing iMessage from Apple, or utilizing WhatsApp—although it isn’t fairly that straightforward. There is not any RCS app you’ll be able to set up, however yow will discover apps that help the RCS normal, as we’ll clarify.
So the lengthy model: Wealthy Communication Providers is a basic normal moderately than an app like WhatsApp, Sign, or Telegram. It requires service help to work, which is why adoption was gradual to start with, although RCS now works throughout most international locations and is supported by AT&T, Verizon, and T-Cellular.
SMS (Quick Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) weren’t actually constructed for the fashionable manner that we talk by means of our telephones, and RCS tries to repair that. It provides or improves help for sharing large-resolution photos and video, group chatting, learn receipts, video calls, and messages that truly transcend 160 characters.
When RCS is supported in your cellphone’s default texting app, you’ll be able to add reactions to messages, see when another person is typing, and drop further components like GIFs, stickers, and your present location into conversations—all options you could be used to and settle for as normal in different apps.
There are modifications and upgrades behind the scenes as nicely. Whereas SMS/MMS requires an information connection to your mobile community, RCS works over cell networks in addition to Wi-Fi. If you do not have a cell sign for no matter purpose however yow will discover a wi-fi community, your message can nonetheless undergo.
