RCS is a big upgrade — when you actually convince your friends and family to switch.

The blue chat bubble means RCS is on, but I'm still waiting on the lock icon that's supposed to follow it.

Google Messages may be about to add a “Details” button to help diagnose issues with RCS chats connections. The button was spotted within a recent beta version of the app, and includes a “Submit ...

Google is rolling out Android RCS Archival on Pixel phones, allowing employers to intercept and archive RCS chats on work-managed devices. In simpler terms, your employer will now be able to read your ...

Google Messages is arguably one of the best text messaging applications out there, offering a lot of customization options. For instance, you can change the color of the text bubbles and utilize the ...

Chris Thomas was a reporter at Android Police from 2022 until 2025. Google recently bolstered its RCS Business Messaging toolkit by enabling PDF support via rich card attachments in Google Messages, ...

iOS 27 beta 2 brings two long-requested RCS upgrades to Apple’s Messages app: reactions now display properly on Android instead of as text, and users can finally send in-line replies in RCS chats.

When you tap the “Start chat” button in the bottom-right corner, you’ll now land on a screen called “New chat.” Before, it was called “New conversation.” The new name matches Google’s RCS branding ...

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages between iPhone and Android devices is coming in iOS 26.5, Apple confirmed today. The feature is listed in Apple's iOS 26.5 release notes. Apple says ...

Apple's iOS 26.4 beta has introduced end‑to‑end encrypted RCS messaging between iPhones and Android phones. The rollout currently targets developers and early adopters on both platforms in line with ...

The feature is in beta as part of iOS 26.5. The feature is in beta as part of iOS 26.5. is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years ...