iPhone & Android join forces: End-to-end encryption is coming to RCS messages!

For the first time, secure communication across different platforms is possible thanks to collaboration between Apple, Google and GSMA.

In the near future, iPhone and Android users will be able to exchange RCS messages with end-to-end encryption (E2EE), thanks to the newly updated specifications for the RCS protocol.

The GSMA announced that the latest RCS standard incorporates E2EE based on the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol, making secure communication between different platform providers possible for the first time.

According to the GSMA, work to enable E2EE for messages between Android and iPhone began in September last year. This technology ensures users' privacy and security by preventing third parties, such as service providers or mobile operators, from accessing the content of messages. The new standard was developed in collaboration with mobile operators, device manufacturers and technology providers, including Apple.

Apple spokesperson Shane Bauer said: “End-to-end encryption is a fundamental privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported from the outset. Now, we are pleased to contribute to a collective industry effort to incorporate it into the RCS Universal Profile published by the GSMA. We plan to add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS and watchOS through future software updates”.

Apple had already introduced support for RCS with the release of iOS 18 in September. Although iMessage supported E2EE, this did not extend to RCS messages due to the limitations of the previous standard, which did not provide cross-platform interoperability. Google Messages also offered E2EE for RCS messages, but this only applied to conversations between users of the same app, excluding communication with iMessage users or other RCS clients on Android.

Google spokesperson Ed Fernandez told The Verge: “We are committed to ensuring a secure messaging experience, and Google Messages users have enjoyed the protection of E2EE for years. We are excited about the GSMA's new specifications and look forward to working directly with the mobile ecosystem to extend this essential user protection to RCS messages across different platforms”.