What you need to know
- Apple and Google are finally bringing end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging to iPhone and Android chats with the iOS 26.5 beta.
- The new encryption system is built directly into the GSMA’s RCS Universal Profile instead of relying on Google’s old proprietary solution.
- If both users have the latest software and a supported carrier, encrypted RCS should work automatically with no complicated setup.
After years of keeping their encrypted walls high, Apple and Google are finally letting iPhone and Android users talk to each other without leaving their privacy at the door.
Apple is beta-testing end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging. It is the central feature of the new iOS 26.5 update, and it’s the first time these two ecosystems have gotten along on security standards. This is the fix you’ve been waiting for if you’ve ever felt a little uneasy sending sensitive info to a friend on the other side of the smartphone divide.
For the uninitiated, iMessage has always been encrypted, but only when you were texting to another iPhone. As soon as an Android user joined the chat, it defaulted to SMS or basic RCS, which is basically open postcards that anyone with the right tools can read. Years ago, Google tried to push its own encryption for RCS, but it was a proprietary layer that Apple wouldn’t adopt.
The breakthrough here is a collaborative effort to embed encryption directly into the GSMA’s RCS Universal Profile.
Major carriers are already on board
There aren’t a lot of hoops to jump through to get this working. If you are running the iOS 26.5 beta and your Android friend is using the latest version of Google Messages, the encryption should just work. Just make sure you’re on a supported carrier as major players like AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the U.S., and Rogers, Bell and Telus in Canada are already on board.
You can see a little lock logo in the chat thread to confirm the connection is secure. If you don’t see that lock, it’s likely because one of you is on a carrier that hasn’t enabled it yet. This is still a beta rollout so please do note that it may take a few weeks to reach every user across the globe.
Apple and Google have promised to set it as the default for all RCS chats from now. Once it leaves beta, the green bubble might still be green, but it won’t be a security risk anymore.
Android Central’s Take
I’ll call it a win for cross-platform security, but it is so incredibly exhausting that it took us until 2026 to get here. Apple was happy to sit on their hands for more than 10 years and leave our cross-platform messages unencrypted just to weaponize a green bubble and trap people in their ecosystem. Basic privacy shouldn’t be a hard-won concession from a tech overlord. So yes, you finally get the peace of mind knowing your group chats are secure no matter what phone everyone bought, but I’m definitely not giving Apple a standing ovation for doing the bare minimum years too late.