Apple announced the adoption of the Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging system, which will launch via software update in 2024 and bring a wide range of iMessage-style features to messaging between iPhone and Android users.
Following years, the pressure from Google, Apple became a mature platform as it was before after it decided to developing RCS systems to compete with Android devices.
“Later next year, we will be adding support for RCS Universal Profile, the standard as currently published by the GSM Association. We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS. This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users,” Apple’s spokesperson stated.
Apart from the pressure on Apple to adopt RCS, there is a perceived stigma in the US associated with the distinction between blue and green text messages in iMessage and other messaging platforms.
It is a distinction that is simply not noticed in the rest of the world, where WhatsApp tends to have greater popularity than iMessage.
Meanwhile, it is still not clear whether Apple’s adoption of RCS will result in Android users having the same blue button appearance as iMessage users.
However, this move is expected to improve issues such as sending images and videos between iPhone and Android devices. Android users in a group message chat will receive scaled-down images sent over traditional MMS.
