iOS 18: Everything you need to know about RCS messages on your iPhone

Apple released iOS 18 to the general public in September, a week after the company announced its new product iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, Apple Watch Series 10 And more during the September event. The update brought many new features to your iPhone, such as text effects in Messages and more ways to improve your lock screen. And one of the biggest features is the support for Rich Communication Services in Messages.

With RCS Messaging, you can enjoy features like typing indicators and ‘Delivered’ status message while messaging Android users. It also ensures high-quality videos and images are sent while texting between iPhone and Android devices.

However, RCS on iPhone does not provide end-to-end encryption between iPhones and Android. The GSM Association, which develops the RCS standard, said online that this is so working on enabling end-to-end encryption between these devices.

Read more: iOS 18 brings these new features to your iPhone

Here’s how to check if your carrier supports RCS and how to make sure it’s enabled on your iPhone.

Does my provider support RCS messaging?

Most providers support RCS, but not all. For example, Verizon, AT&T And T-Mobile they all support RCS on iPhones running iOS 18. If you have a different carrier you may not be able to use this feature, but there is an easy way to check.

1. Open Institutions.
2. Crane General.
3. Crane About.
4. Crane Carrier.

When you tap Carrier, it will change to IMS status and message support details will be displayed on the right. For example, if your carrier supports RCS, you will see this Voice, SMS and RCS. If your provider does not support RCS, you will see this Voice and SMS.

However, if your carrier doesn’t support RCS Messaging, fear not: Apple is reportedly expanding support to more carriers. According to 9to5Macsupports iOS 18.1 beta RCS messaging on these carriers.

• Telenet (Belgium)
• Proximus (Belgium)
• BASE (Belgium)
• TracFone (US)
• C Spire (USA)

However, there is no word on when iOS 18.1 will be released to the public.

Read more: Everything you need to know about iOS 18

How to enable or disable RCS on your iPhone

If your carrier supports RCS, here’s how to check if it works on your iPhone.

1. Open Institutions.
2. Crane Apps at the bottom of the menu.
3. Crane To inform.
4. Tap RCS messages under Text messages.
4. Tap the switch next to RCS messages.

Now sending messages to Android devices feels more like sending messages to any other iPhone, but you still see those green bubbles. And if you want to disable RCS, follow the above steps again.

Read more: The iPhone 16 Pro’s high-resolution slow-motion video is the best Apple feature in years

Why isn’t RCS working on my iPhone?

If you updated your iPhone to iOS 18, your carrier supports RCS, and you enabled it on your iPhone, but RCS isn’t working for you, you may need to restart your iPhone.

For more information about iOS 18, here is my iOS 18 review, all the ways to customize your iPhone home screen and our iOS 18 cheat sheet. You can also see what you need to know about the Public beta of iOS 18.1.

Check this out: 11 hidden features in iOS 18

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