RCS Messaging Finally Lands on Your iPhone With the iOS 18 Public Betas
December 22, 2024
Apple released the second public beta for iOS 18 on July 29, more than a month after the tech giant announced the software at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The beta brings many new features to your iPhone, including text effects in Messages and more ways to personalize your lock screen. But one new sought-after feature is Rich Communication Services support in Messages.
While Apple barely mentioned RCS messaging at its WWDC presentation, it's still set to land on your iPhone with iOS 18 this fall. With RCS messaging, you'll be able to enjoy features like typing indicators and the "Delivered" status message while messaging Android users. It'll also help ensure high-quality videos and pictures are sent when texting between iPhone and Android devices.
Will my carrier support RCS messaging?
Most carriers support RCS, but not all. For example, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile all support RCS on iPhones running iOS 18. If you have another carrier you might not be able to use this feature, but there's an easy way to check.
1. Open Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap About.
4. Tap Carrier.
When you tap Carrier, it will change to IMS Status and show messaging support details to the right. For example, if your carrier supports RCS, you'll see Voice, SMS & RCS. If your carrier doesn't support RCS, you'll see Voice & SMS.
How to enable or disable RCS on your iPhone
Apple is finally bringing RCS to iPhones with iOS 18.
If your carrier supports RCS, here's how to make sure it's working on your iPhone.
1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Apps near the bottom of the menu.
3. Tap Messages.
4. Tap the toggle next to RCS Messaging under Text Messaging.
Now messaging Android devices will feel more like messaging another iPhone -- but you'll still see those green bubbles. And if you want to disable RCS, follow the above steps again.
Why won't RCS work on my iPhone?
If you updated your iPhone to iOS 18, your carrier supports RCS and you enabled it on your iPhone, but RCS isn't working for you, you might need to restart your iPhone.
However, if you've restarted your iPhone and RCS still isn't working, it's probably a bug in iOS 18. Don't forget, iOS 18 is still in beta, so this feature, and others, might not work properly. There will likely be more betas before the OS is released to the public, and there's plenty of time for Apple to address these issues. As of now, there's no word on when Apple will release iOS 18.
