A Major Privacy Upgrade is Coming Soon

Cross-platform encrypted messaging between iPhone and Android is coming soon, thanks to updated Rich Communication Services (RCS) standards. The GSM Association has announced that the latest RCS specifications now include end-to-end encryption based on the Messaging Layer Security protocol. This breakthrough, initially teased back in September, will finally allow secure, encrypted messaging between different mobile platforms.

This is a huge privacy win — end-to-end encryption (E2EE) means nobody else can see your messages, not even your cell carrier or the companies that make the messaging apps. According to the GSMA, they developed this new RCS standard by bringing everyone to the table: mobile carriers, device makers, and tech companies, including Apple.

GSMA Technical Director Tom Van Pelt wrote on his organization’s site that, “…RCS will be the first large-scale messaging service to support interoperable E2EE between client implementations from different providers. Together with other unique security features such as SIM-based authentication, E2EE will provide RCS users with the highest level of privacy and security for stronger protection from scams, fraud and other security and privacy threats.”

Apple’s commitment to cross-platform security

According to Apple spokesperson Shane Bauer in a statement to 9to5 Mac, end-to-end encryption is a powerful privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported since the beginning. Bauer added, “… we are pleased to have helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to the RCS Universal Profile published by the GSMA. We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates.”

Google’s commitment to secure messaging

Google spokesperson Ed Fernandez told The Verge that, “Google Messages users have had end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messaging for years. We’re excited to have this updated specification from GSMA and work as quickly as possible with the mobile ecosystem to implement and extend this important user protection to cross-platform RCS messaging.”

The end of fragmented messaging security

Apple rolled out RCS support for iPhones with the iOS 18 update back in September. While iMessage has had end-to-end encryption for ages, this security feature didn’t carry over to RCS messaging because the previous standard simply couldn’t handle cross-platform encryption.

On the Android side, Google Messages did offer end-to-end encryption for RCS texts, but only when chatting with other Google Messages users; conversations with iPhone users or people using different Android messaging apps weren’t protected. The new standard should finally fix this fragmented situation.

No specific timeline has been given for when we’ll see this feature roll out, but when it finally arrives, it will certainly be a big privacy upgrade.