Earlier Thursday we handed alongside the large information of the day: Apple agreed so as to add Wealthy Communication Companies (RCS) help to the iPhone subsequent 12 months. RCS provides many of the identical options that iMessage does comparable to end-to-end encryption, learn receipts, typing indicators, high-quality photographs and movies, and the power to ship bigger messages. RCS can be utilized over a cellular information connection and Wi-Fi. Apple may even add a function inside RCS that may enable customers to share their location inside textual content threads.
Google, joined by Samsung earlier this 12 months, had been pressuring Apple so as to add RCS help to the iPhone. With out such help, every time Android customers message an iPhone consumer, they robotically accomplish that over the old-fashioned SMS platform that shares photographs and movies in low high quality and does not present the aforementioned options that each iMessage and RCS do.
Per 9to5Google, in a press release launched this afternoon, Google mentioned, “Everybody deserves to speak with one another in methods which might be fashionable and safe, it doesn’t matter what telephone they’ve. That’s why we now have labored carefully with the cellular business to speed up the adoption of RCS, and we’re completely satisfied to see Apple take their first step at this time by approaching board to embrace RCS. We welcome Apple’s participation in our ongoing work with GSMA to evolve RCS and make messaging extra equitable and safe, and look ahead to working with them to implement this on iOS in a approach that works nicely for everybody.”
This previous April end-to-end encryption was added to RCS
Apple has already mentioned that it plans on including RCS as a separate messaging choice that iPhone customers will have the ability to use when obtainable. Apple plans on including this help by way of a software program replace that it’s going to ship out “someday later subsequent 12 months.” SMS will nonetheless be obtainable as a backup.
Apple referred to as iMessage the “finest and most safe messaging expertise for Apple customers,” and mentioned that it needed to work with the GSMA, the group representing cellular community operators worldwide, so as to add stronger encryption to RCS.
Throughout the Google I/O developer convention in Might, Sameer Samat, the VP of the Android ecosystem, mentioned that by the tip of this 12 months, RCS may have 1 billion customers worldwide. Samat additionally mentioned on the occasion, “We hope each cellular working system will get the message and adopts RCS so we are able to all hand around in the group chat collectively — it doesn’t matter what system we’re utilizing.” This can change into a actuality someday subsequent 12 months.