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.
Honestly that will be the least of your concerns. I will be very surprised if it’s anything more than basic interoperability. Photos and videos and such. Probably not even group text. Apple will comply maliciously just like they are with app stores. You’ll have to drag them kicking and screaming.