Google Celebrates RCS Coming to iPhone in New Ad [Video]

Google has posted a new ad celebrating the upcoming launch of RCS support on iPhone.

Learn more about RCS, Rich Communication Services, and see what's coming to make cross-platform texting more seamless.


Apple surprised everyone last year by announcing support for the RCS messaging standard that will improve interoperability with Android phones. RCS (Rich Communication Services) is a communication protocol between mobile telephone carriers and between phone and carrier, aiming to replace SMS messages with a text-message system that is richer, provides phonebook polling (for service discovery), and can transmit in-call multimedia.

For many buyers, iMessage's blue bubbles over Android's green bubbles have been a significant factor in the iPhone vs Android decision. Recognizing this, Google ran a pressure campaign over the past few years to get Apple to adopt the standard. SVP Hiroshi Lockheimer even accused Apple of holding back the industry and using iMessage to bully users into buying iPhones.

Many assume it was the EU's Digital Markets Act that Apple forced the company to adopt RCS; however, due to its low market share, iMessage is exempt from DMA regulations in the EU. A more recent support suggests it actually may have been new Chinese legislation that made Apple change its position.

Apple has already enabled RCS support for developers as of iOS 18 beta 2 and all users will get support for RCS when iOS 18 launches in September.


Check out Google's celebratory ad below!