Google thought Apple’s introduction of RCS (Rich Communication Services) would solve everything, but the messaging protocol is still far behind iMessage due to lack of carrier support, device support and encryption.
According to a listing from Foxt Dev, RCS support is limited to a few popular carriers in the United States, Canada, Europe, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, and France. Outside of these countries, there is no support for RCS on the iPhone.
In the UK you need to be on EE to benefit from it, meaning Vodafone, O2 and Three haven’t gotten it yet, although Apple lists them as supporting the feature.
Although some carriers in some countries allow RCS, it is far from a global or universal messaging protocol. Google, for example, uses its own implementation and not the standard developed by the GSMA.
This article was originally published in our sister publication Macworld Sweden and was translated and adapted from Swedish.
