RCS on iPhone in 2026: The End of Green vs Blue Bubbles

The 2026 upgrade: encryption crosses the platform line

Here is the part that took until 2026. RCS messages between iPhone and Android were never private by default. They were encrypted in transit between your phone and the carrier, but the carrier and the platform could still see them. That gap is now closing.

With the launch of iOS 26.5, end-to-end encrypted RCS between Android and iPhone started rolling out, in a process Apple said would happen over the coming months (according to 9to5Google). The encryption rides on the GSMA's RCS Universal Profile 3.0, which uses the Messaging Layer Security protocol. The Electronic Frontier Foundation put it plainly: conversations between Apple's Messages app and Google Messages on Android "will be end-to-end encrypted by default, as long as the carrier supports both RCS and encrypted messages" (according to the EFF).

Testing between the two camps had been underway since early in the year. Google and Apple announced that encrypted RCS messaging between Android and iPhone was being tested, with messages that "cannot be read by anyone else as they are sent between phones" (according to 9to5Google). On an iPhone you now see a small lock and the word "Encrypted" at the center of the conversation. Google Messages shows the same lock it already used for Android-to-Android chats. The visual cue matters, because for the first time it tells you whether a cross-platform thread is actually private.

Why this milestone is real and not just a press release

Most encryption you trust today lives inside one app. WhatsApp talks to WhatsApp. Signal talks to Signal. iMessage talks to iMessage. The encryption is strong, but it stops at the walls of that app. RCS is the first time two different messaging clients, built by two competing companies, can hold an encrypted conversation with each other. That interoperability is the genuinely new thing.

It also lands at a useful moment. A lot of client communication has quietly drifted onto whatever app is open, and for huge swaths of users that is the default texting app on their phone. Until 2026, a client texting you from an iPhone while you carry an Android (or the reverse) meant the conversation was readable by carriers and, in theory, anyone who compromised that pipe. Now it can be private by default. If you ever sent a client a one-time passcode, a banking detail, or a sensitive draft over a cross-platform text, that is a meaningful improvement.

The catches nobody puts on the box

Before you move your whole client relationship into a text thread, read the fine print, because there is a lot of it.

The encryption is not guaranteed. It depends on your carrier supporting both RCS and the encrypted version, the Android side running a recent build of Google Messages, and the feature having reached your account. Apple still labels it Beta, and the rollout is gradual, so some conversations will quietly fall back to unencrypted messaging without much fanfare (according to 9to5Google).

Encryption also covers the message contents, not everything around them. The EFF noted that metadata "will likely still be collected and stored for these conversations, making alternatives like Signal still a better option for many conversations" (according to the EFF). Who you talked to, when, and how often can still be visible even when the words are not.

Then there is everything text was never built for. A thread has no version history you can search by project. It has no record of which file was the approved final. It has no status that says "this invoice is unpaid." When a client says "you never sent me that," scrolling up through three months of mixed personal and work messages to prove otherwise is not a system. It is a liability you carry on your phone.

What this means for messaging clients

Here is the honest read. RCS in 2026 makes casual back-and-forth with clients better. Photos look sharp. You can tell a message was read. The "are they typing" anxiety is at least answered. For a quick "running five minutes late" or "love the new logo," it is a clear upgrade over the old SMS fallback, and now it can be private too.

But better texting is still texting. The features that improved are the social ones. The features client work depends on (a paper trail, approvals you can prove, payment you can chase, files that do not expire) are not what a messaging standard is for, and RCS does not pretend otherwise.

This is the same trap that catches a lot of independents on WhatsApp and iMessage. The app feels frictionless, the client is already there, so the proposal, the contract, the file, and the invoice all end up in one scrolling thread. Then a dispute happens, or a phone gets wiped, or a client ghosts on a payment, and the thread that felt convenient turns out to hold nothing you can stand behind. If that pattern sounds familiar, it is worth reading why running a freelance business on WhatsApp eventually breaks, and why a client portal beats email and chat for delivering work.

There is a simple rule that holds up. Use the upgraded text thread for the human stuff: scheduling, quick reactions, the small talk that keeps a relationship warm. Keep the work that has consequences somewhere structured: the signed contract, the deposit, the deliverables, the invoice with a due date. The two jobs are different, and one good messaging standard does not collapse them into one.

FAQ

Should I run client work over RCS now that it's encrypted?

Use it for conversation, not for the work itself. Encrypted RCS is fine for chatting and quick updates, and it is genuinely more private than the old SMS fallback. It is still the wrong home for contracts, approvals, deliverables, and invoices, because a text thread gives you no searchable record, no status, and no proof of what was agreed. Keep the things that can land in a dispute somewhere built to hold them.

Is RCS the same as iMessage?

No. iMessage is Apple's own service and only runs between Apple devices. RCS is an open carrier standard from the GSMA that any phone can use, which is exactly why it works between iPhone and Android. On an iPhone, iMessages appear in blue and cross-platform RCS messages appear in green, but the green ones now carry read receipts, typing indicators, high-resolution media, and, where supported, encryption.

How do I know if my texts to a client are actually encrypted?

Look for the indicator. On an iPhone you will see a lock and the word "Encrypted" in the center of the conversation. On Google Messages you will see the same lock icon used for Android-to-Android chats. If you do not see it, the conversation may have fallen back to unencrypted RCS or plain SMS, often because a carrier or an outdated app on the other side does not support it yet.

What did iOS 18 actually add for texting Android users?

iOS 18, released in September 2024, brought RCS to iPhone for the first time. Texting an Android phone gained read receipts, typing indicators, higher-resolution photos and videos, voice memos, named group chats, and reactions, replacing the old SMS and MMS fallback that degraded media and broke group threads.

The thing text still can't do

RCS finally made cross-platform texting feel like one conversation, and that is a real win. It does not give you a place you control. Delivvo does: a branded client portal where your proposals, contracts, file delivery, approvals, and invoices live in one searchable thread per client, with payment collected straight through your own gateway and zero platform cut. The casual chat can stay in your messages app. The work that has to hold up belongs somewhere it won't scroll away. See how it works

A decade of green-versus-blue arguments is winding down, and that is a good thing for anyone who has ever wrangled a mixed group chat. The features that arrived in 2026 are the ones text always should have had. Just be clear about what you are getting. You got a better way to talk to clients. You did not get a better way to run the business between you and them. Those are still two different tools, and the second one was never going to come from your phone's default messaging app.