OS 26 was announced nearly a month ago, but there is one change related to phone calls and messages that flew under our radar until now.

Discover iOS 26 Beta 5’s new features, smoother animations, AI-powered support, and performance upgrades in Apple’s latest ...

Discover iOS 26 Beta 5's new features, including battery upgrades, design refinements, and performance boosts for a smoother ...

Adding RCS to iOS would fill this gap, as communication would be similar to the experience that users have when chatting via iMessage. But again, that wouldn’t benefit Apple in any way.

Then, with iOS 18.1, Apple brought RCS Business Messaging to iPhones, which means you'll be able to chat with some businesses in Messages rather than a buggy web page.

Initial reports from users participating in the iOS 18 beta highlight the benefits of RCS. Users report successful exchanges of high-resolution photos and videos with Android users, suggesting the ...

One crafty iOS 18 beta tester has managed to get RCS working. The experience is currently a little rough as some features still don’t fully work, but file transfer and group chats work well already.

T-Mobile, Google Fi, and Mint Mobile prepaid network users may soon gain access to RCS messaging on iPhones with iOS 18.4. While Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile have long enabled RCS for iPhone users ...

As it happens, that speculation was correct. RCS coming to iOS means a lot, but, namely, texting someone with an Android phone is going to be a lot easier.

I’m one of those who doesn’t have the new setting on my iPhone 14 Pro. I installed the iOS 18 beta as soon as it became available, but it’s up to my carrier to enable RCS messaging support.

Weird revisionism. First, RCS can still cost money if a carrier determines they want to charge for it, just like MMS, as it still requires a gateway.