Next year, texting between iPhones and Android phones won't be so terrible

Apple today announced that it plans to bring Rich Communication Services (RCS) to the iPhone next year, replacing the SMS and MMS standards. The company says that RCS will debut as a software update later next year. "We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS," the company said in a statement. "This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users." The move will bring certain features once exclusive to iMessage, like read receipts and higher-quality media, to both iOS and Android users.

Apple’s change of heart comes as both companies and regulators pushed for it to support RCS on the iPhone. Google has released multiple ad campaigns targeted at Apple, blaming Apple for the poor user experience of texting between the best iPhones and the latest Android phones. Additionally, it has faced multiple inquiries from the European Union regarding whether iMessage should be interoperable with other platforms.

Adding RCS support to the iPhone may be a compromise that satisfies Android brands and the EU. Part of the reason why texting “green bubbles” on the iPhone is a bad experience is due to the messaging standard that iPhones use. SMS and MMS are outdated, and using these standards can produce low-quality images and video sharing, among other things. By switching to RCS, a ton of features that were exclusive to iMessage will now be available in text message conversations. These include typing indicators, location sharing, and sending texts over mobile data.

Apple reiterates that RCS does not replace iMessage, and that the latter is still the best and most secure way to send messages. The default messaging standard will still be iMessage among iPhone users, and Android users still can't use iMessage. Support for the RCS standard simply means sending text messages will be better overall for both iPhone and Android users. However, since text messaging on iOS is mainly a fallback option for when iMessage is unavailable, support for RCS mainly benefits Android users.

Apple has historically taken a bullish approach to supporting RCS, going way back to CEO Tim Cook's "buy your mom an iPhone" comment. However, some headway has been made on that front. Google rolled out a feature that allows Android users to view message reactions, but they still can’t be sent from Android. Similarly, Apple now supports message reactions in MMS groups with Android users.

iMessage will still have exclusive features, like end-to-end encryption and message editing to name a few. With that in mind, RCS support will likely make the experience of texting between iOS and Android users a lot more similar to iMessage. RCS support is coming "later next year" in a software update.