In a surprising move, Apple has announced today that it will adopt the RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging standard. The feature will launch via a software update “later next year” and bring a wide range of iMessage-style features to messaging between iPhone and Android users.
Apple’s decision comes amid pressure from regulators and competitors like Google and Samsung. It also comes as RCS has continued to develop and become a more mature platform than it once was.
I’ve read that it doesn’t have e2ee in its specs. Google has a proprietary tweak enabling it but Apple will stick to RSC specs.
Let’s hope that RSC gets e2ee asap.
https://mastodon.social/@daringfireball/111421851053569842
This is due to licensing issues on Google’s end. They indirectly manufacture the gateways needed to implement the e2ee extensions at scale.