Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- One artful iOS 18 beta tester has managed to get RCS working.
- The expertise is at present just a little tough as some options nonetheless don’t absolutely work, however file switch and group chats work properly already.
- RCS is simply supported on AT&T and T-Cellular for now, although this seemingly gained’t be the case by the point the characteristic absolutely launches with iOS 18.
Final week, Apple confirmed that wealthy communication providers (RCS) assist is on its option to iOS 18 and that it could ultimately arrive within the beta as properly. Though the present iOS 18 beta technically doesn’t assist RCS, there’s at all times somebody who manages to show these options on anyway. This time round, it was X (previously Twitter) consumer @dhinakg who seems to have gotten it working first.
You’ll discover that the inexperienced bubble denoting Android customers remains to be very a lot current, however now iMessage at the very least gives options like supply standing. File transfers additionally work nice, supporting increased resolutions and sizes than SMS.
Though it really works properly sufficient normally, RCS on iOS 18 remains to be a piece in progress. Android customers can ship messages to iPhone customers and even take part in group chats, although there’s no end-to-end encryption (E2EE) assist between the 2 platforms but. Moreover, the iPhone doesn’t ship learn receipts for group chats, and the receipts despatched by Android telephones in teams will not be seen both. These receipts work tremendous in single chats, nevertheless.
For now, the power to activate RCS within the iOS 18 beta is just about reserved for excessive tinkerers, however at the very least we now have a greater concept of what it is going to appear like now. Even if you happen to might get it to work, the characteristic at present solely works on AT&T and T-Cellular within the US. In fact, service assist is predicted to widen by the point the iOS 18 steady construct rolls out.
