RCS Support on the iPhone is Coming in Fall 2024, Says Google

Back in November, Apple announced that it would finally add support for RCS messaging on the iPhone in 2024. Google, which has been campaigning for years for Apple to “get the message,” apparently knows when RCS on the iPhone will go live… or it think it does.

On the official Android website, Google has a page dedicated to its Google Messages app where the company details the benefits or RCS. In essence, RCS messaging is the carrier-supported replacement for the decades-old SMS technology, and it ads support for modern messaging features such as group conversations, read receipts, end-to-end encryption, and more.

Yesterday, 9to5Google spotted that a section of this page showed RCS as “Coming soon on iOS,” with a more precise “fall 2024” release date. “Apple has announced it will be adopting RCS in the fall of 2024. Once that happens, it will mean a better messaging experience for everyone,” the section read.

This message has since been removed from that webpage, and probably for good reason. In November, Apple never gave a specific timeline for RCS support on the iPhone beyond “next year.” It’s possible that Google went public about the date too soon, but it could also be that nothing has been set in stone yet.

It would make sense for Apple to make RCS support a new feature coming with iOS 18 later this fall. However, the announcement will likely be downplayed as Apple CEO Tim Cook said two years ago that “I don’t hear our users asking that we put a lot of energy on that at this point.”

Apple has already confirmed that RCS messages on the iPhone will continue to use the same green bubbles as SMS messages. Messages sent between iPhone users via Apple’s iMessage technology will continue to use blue bubbles, however. If RCS on the iPhone won’t be the end of the blue bubble vs. green bubble disparity, it’s still going to be another nail in the coffin of the outdated SMS technology.