Google SMS RCS conversations with iPhones have some quirks

Earlier this week, Apple introduced… iOS 18 Beta 2 With support for Rich Communication Services (in the US), the experience of using Google Messages to talk to someone with an iPhone over RCS is very simple, although it is clearly a first experience.

After updating to iOS 18 Beta 2, the RCS Messaging toggle (Settings > Apps > Messages) is enabled by default if you use Compatible carriersuch as AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon. Currently, RCS cannot be enabled on iOS if you use an MVNO, such as Google Fi. However, it doesn’t matter what carrier your Android recipient uses once RCS is enabled on your iPhone.

In Google Messages, opening an iPhone conversation will reveal “RCS Message” in the text field. Delivery/read receipts and writing indicators work, as well as high-resolution photos and videos.

iPhone and Android chat via RCS

Google Messages will mark that the conversation is not end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) with a padlock symbol containing a slash. The Message Details will indicate the Type as “Rich Communications Service Message” instead of “End-to-End Encrypted Rich Communications Service Message.”

Google offers its own E2EE service for 1:1 and group messaging on Android. Apple wants to add encryption to the RCS Universal Profile standard, so Google will presumably move to whatever the industry group comes up with in the future.

Meanwhile, going to the conversation details page reveals some missing settings. When talking to someone using an iPhone, there is no “Send SMS and MMS only” on/off toggle for this topic. There is also no card showing the E2EE status in most cases (unless the SIM cards were switched from Android to iOS and were previously active).

Android vs iOS

In group chats, you can change the name and sync it with all members, while there is also an option to “leave the group”.

Before iOS 18 launches in the fall, Google will supposedly update Messages to address these inconsistencies. Other than that, the experiment is pretty simple, and should have happened much sooner.

More about Google Messages: