iOS 18: after years of waiting, the iPhone is finally entitled to this Google standard

In iOS 18, the Message appis entitled to many new features, including planningshipments, the possibility of reactingto messages with any emoji, as well as sending via satellite.

Alongside these additions, Apple should also integrate Google's RCS into the iPhone, after several yearsrefusal to take into account takes into account the standard. RCS is, as a reminder, Alphabet's messaging standard, which replaces old, inefficient SMS, by providing advanced features. Apple announces:

Rich Communication Services (RCS) messages bring richer media and delivery and read receipts to those who don't use iMessage.

It does not replace iMessage

Seeing the features RCS offers, some have wondered if it will replace iMessage. This is absolutely not the case. It is true that Google has fallen behind over the years in terms of advanced cellular messaging, by not offering a service as efficient as Apple.

Now RCS offers many advanced features, perhaps more than iMessage. The Apple firm must therefore align and offer at least the same options for interoperability to work. This is partly whyin iOS 18, you will be able to react to iMessages with all emojis, and no longer with only some. The RCS already offers this.

A page that turns

The integration of Google's RCS into the iPhone in iOS 18 probably marksthe end of the controversies concerning iMessageand Android. Currently, Android device owners are not able to participate in iMessage conversations in the same way as iPhone users.

In Europe and the rest of the world, this isn't much of a problem, as most people use WhatsApp. On the other hand, in the United States, the iPhone is the majority, especially among younger people. They therefore communicate most of the time via multi-party iMessages groups. Unfortunately, many teenagers have experienced bullying and been ostracized because of it.

Despite everything, Tim Cook did not want to take the complaints into account and affirmed in 2022 thatRCS was not Apple's priority. In November 2023, Apple finally accepted the measure, without saying what prompted it to change its mind. A few months later, in February 2024, an investigation which aimed to determine the causes of the acceptance of the measure was published by John Gruber. While the general opinion was that Apple accepted the RCS because of pressure from the European Union, the investigation ultimately showed thatthe pressures came from elsewhere.

In any case, iOS 18 will finally be entitled to RCS, but also to many other new features, such asyou can find here.