I tried out RCS messaging between iPhone and Android: here’s how it works

After countless ads and several years of pleading from Google, RCS has finally come to Apple’s Messages app. Right now it’s only available as part of the second iOS 18 beta before a full rollout later this fall, but for the brave beta testers, the time has finally come. So I did what any good journalist (especially one who uses Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile because they are the only supported carriers) would do: I fired up an iPhone and texted the most tech-savvy guy I know: my father . After all, what could possibly go wrong if I explain what I need from him while testing RCS on Messages for myself for the first time? Surprisingly, almost nothing.

Before using my Android-using dad as an RCS guinea pig, I had to do a few things. The first thing was to let him know I was moving my phone number — a courtesy, since he gets emails from Verizon every time I do that (sorry, Dad).

The second was to sign up for Apple’s Developer Program, bring an iPhone 14 Plus test device out of retirement and set it up with the latest iOS 18 beta. Those two steps took about three times as long as the rest of the process (including talking my dad through the different ways I needed him to respond to messages).

Then it was time to jump into an RCS-powered future, and by that I mean flipping a switch in the Settings app. Seriously, that’s all there is to beta testers of the most recent build.

From there, it was time to send my first RCS text message on an iPhone, so I thought I’d start with a simple message: a note about Apple finally getting the message. Then it was time to test a few RCS basics: the ability to reply to messages and send read receipts from Android to iOS. I asked my dad to respond to my first message, and he sent a thumbs up – both to my original message and to my request for a response. Both responses emerged smoothly and immediately, a vast improvement over the generic SMS alert on iOS 17 and older, and much closer to what we see from Apple’s iMessage service between Apple devices.

I also noticed that I didn’t need to test read receipts through RCS; these are enabled by default. There doesn’t seem to be a way to turn them off either, as there’s only one switch for all the RCS settings, so you’re either inside or outside. Personally, I hope Apple adds the ability to turn read receipts on or off later, since I don’t normally use them, but this is beta software after all.

The other big benefit of bringing RCS to Messages is the ability to send full-resolution videos and images from Android to iOS, just like you can with iMessage between iPhones. After all, there’s nothing worse than having a friend take a great photo of you and then send it to you in low resolution. So I asked my dad to send a photo and a video clip, and he did it in a way only a dad can do: with a comic about making beer and a video of him checking the gutters in the house in which I grew up.

When I finished shaking my head, I realized that they had both come through the same way as if they had been sent from a different iPhone. The comic was crystal clear and the video came out much better than the Patterson-Gimlin resolution I often get when he sends me a clip. It’s a huge improvement over the SMS and MMS problems both parties are used to and a sign that Google was probably right all along.

RCS on iPhones also lets you send stickers from your existing set and GIFs from Apple’s #images library, so I sent my dad a copy of each. Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t seem to have ironed out the responses to this yet, as I got the dreaded “Thumbs up for a GIF” and “Thumbs up for a photo” in response. Interestingly enough, when I responded to the video my dad sent, it was a thumbs up on my part, but a simple text response from him.

So the experience is not yet perfect. Yes, iOS 18 is still in development, but I encountered another surprising problem when I received video clips from my father. While I had no problems opening and starting clips, there was no way to control them once they started playing. The play button disappears almost immediately, and Apple’s usual slider at the bottom is nowhere to be found. If I wanted to go back and pause at an earlier point in the clip, I’d have to swipe out and start all over again – not a huge problem in a 10-second clip, but quite annoying for something much longer.

So there you go: Apple has completely changed the messaging game by bringing RCS to Messages. We can finally achieve peace and harmony between Android and iOS, especially as the two mobile platforms move closer together and share more features than ever before. You can place apps anywhere on your iPhone’s home screen, change the color of your icons, and respond to messages on other platforms. What else is there?

Oh yeah, green bubbles still exist, so Android users will likely still face stigma if they choose a Pixel or Galaxy device over an iPhone. But that’s okay. Now when you take a great photo of your friends with a Pixel 8 Pro or shoot a video at 50x zoom on a Galaxy S24 Ultra, you can send it to your friends in the original quality!

Cynicism and snark aside, bringing RCS to Messages feels great. As much as I like the automatic read receipts, I did like that my dad responded to my messages without his response sending an additional text message, and the typing indicator means I know he’s actually responding instead of him ‘ daddy things’. Maybe one day Android users (as I usually am) will finally stop being judged for having green speech bubbles. Until then, this certainly feels like a good start.

But what do you think? Will RCS on iPhone put an end to the bullying of green bubble Android users when it rolls out later this fall? Let us know in the poll below.