there is a limitation, they are not encrypted

In July of this year, it was reported that the Google Messages app was about to receive MLM (Messaging Layer Security), a significant and notable improvement of RCS. It is precisely this protocol that is now available to send messages between an iPhone and an Android mobile, although with a but, They are not yet end-to-end encrypted..

With the rollout of iOS 18, Apple users can now communicate via RCS, the modern standard for creating shared space with typical features seen in other apps such as WhatsApp. For Android users, at least where SMS or RCS messaging is more widely used as is the case in the US, this means they will no longer feel “out of place” by friends or family who use an iPhone.

Which practically means that users will be able to Share content in high resolution and view read messages or the same indicator that the user types, although Apple’s implementation does not yet have E2EE (end-to-end encryption). Thanks to this protocol, when an Android user sends a message to another with the Google operating system, it is ensured that even the operator will not be able to read it.

Not all providers or apps offer E2EE. One exception is the Google Messages app, which enabled this feature by default for RCS conversations last year. Apple’s iMessage also has E2EEalthough the same protection does not apply to RCS messages.

There is an important point in this integration by Google and that is that it has been a Custom development based on RCS protocolthe RCS Universal Profile. In fact, for E2EE to work across different platforms, for example between Android and iOS, the E2EE support introduced in the Universal Profile is required.

And that’s exactly what the GSMA, the organization behind the RCS protocol, did by announcing that it’s working to complete development and announcing a major milestone in iOS using the protocol. Google CEO Elman Weber shared a few words explaining that they’re working to introduce end-to-end cross-platform encryption in RCS conversations as soon as possible.

From today, according to The Verge, You can now send high-resolution photos and videos to iPhone users from an Android and vice versa, an experience that changes completely, especially in countries like the United States where this protocol is most used unlike Europe and other European countries where the use of mobile data is most common in applications. like WhatsApp. Of course, E2EE or end-to-end encryption, once integrated, will be an added advantage.