The GSM Association (GSMA, no relation to us) has published new RCS specifications that allow end-to-end encryption across platforms. RCS messages on Android have been end-to-end encrypted for years, but now the same level of security can apply to messages sent from Android to iOS or vice-versa, since Apple has finally joined the RCS party last year.
In fact, Apple has already sent out the following statement on the matter:
End-to-end encryption is a powerful privacy and security technology that iMessage has supported since the beginning, and now we are pleased to have helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to the RCS Universal Profile published by the GSMA. We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates.
Google said this:
We’ve always been committed to providing a secure messaging experience, and Google Messages users have had end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messaging for years. We’re excited to have this updated specification from GSMA and work as quickly as possible with the mobile ecosystem to implement and extend this important user protection to cross-platform RCS messaging.
So it looks like RCS will gain yet another important feature for cross-platform messaging. Will this finally convince North American iMessage users to treat green bubbles the same as blue ones? Probably not, but the GSMA, Google, and Apple are doing all they can here.
