Apple is bringing RCS to the iPhone in iOS 18
www.theverge.com
Ding dong, the SMS is dead.

The long-awaited day is here: Apple has announced that its Messages app will support RCS in iOS 18. The move comes after years of taunting, cajoling, and finally, some regulatory scrutiny from the EU.

Right now, when people on iOS and Android message each other, the service falls back to SMS — photos and videos are sent at a lower quality, messages are shortened, and importantly, conversations are not end-to-end encrypted like they are in iMessage. Messages from Android phones show up as green bubbles in iMessage chats and chaos ensues.

Apple’s announcement was likely an effort to appease EU regulators.

    • PlusMinus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      133·
      5 months ago

      What? SMS is a proven standard that works reliably. Why do we need to replace that? I tried RCS twice, in both cases the other end did not receive my message or at a later time. Even if SMS needed replacement, RCS is not it.

      • QuaternionsRock@lemmy.worldEnglish
        23·
        5 months ago

        SMS is a proven standard that works reliably.

        lol

        I tried RCS twice, in both cases the other end did not receive my message or at a later time.

        This is not indicative of how well RCS will work as its widespread adoption continues to mature. I do understand your frustration; I just would expect the growing pains to last much longer. Remember how shitty USB C was for the first few years?

    • anon_8675309@lemmy.worldEnglish
      151·
      5 months ago

      SMS has one feature nothing else does. It’s not data per se. if you can ping a tower you can get a message out. You can’t do that with anything else.

      Makes a difference when you’re out in BFE.

    • kevincox@lemmy.mlEnglish
      42·
      5 months ago

      Counterpoint: RCS shouldn’t exist either. We should use something that isn’t tied to our mobile service providers.