Android and iPhone users can now send encrypted messages to each other
Apple and Google have finally agreed on end-to-end encryption for cross-platform messaging in a privacy breakthrough meant to replace traditional SMS.
Apple Messages app. Image by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Apple and Google have finally agreed on end-to-end encryption for cross-platform messaging in a privacy breakthrough meant to replace traditional SMS.
iPhone and Android users can now send each other end-to-end encrypted messages, a move expected to ensure smoother communication across different operating systems and placate privacy concerns.
End-to-end encryption means that the messages can’t be read by anyone while they’re sent between devices. In order to enable the feature, both iPhone and Android users should install the latest updates to their operating systems.
The feature started rolling out for iPhone users in beta with Apple's May 11th iOS update. It will be available to those with supported carriers. Users can check if their carrier now supports end-to-end encrypted messaging here.
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Meanwhile, Android users can now communicate more securely with Apple users if they’re on the latest version of Google Messages.
“Apple and Google have led a cross-industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to Rich Communication Services (RCS), making the cross-platform messaging format that replaces traditional SMS more secure and private,” Apple said in a statement.
Cybernews has contacted Google for comment.
What is RCS?
RCS is a communication protocol developed as a replacement for SMS, allowing features like read receipts, emoji reactions, and longer message lengths, as well as encryption to text messages.
Android users have been able to communicate using end-to-end encryption since 2021.
However, Apple refused to join the new texting protocol, now an industry standard, despite pressure from Google and regulators. Instead, the company focused on its own iMessage, which has been encrypted since its launch in 2011.
Apple eventually bowed to external pressures – with some reports saying it was “effectively forced” by China – and added support for RCS in 2024 in a major reversal of course.
It also comes as Apple and Google enter into a closer relationship. The companies announced in January a “multi-year” collaboration that will see Apple integrate Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology into its AI features, including a “more personalized” Siri.
What about the “green bubble”?
While the rollout of end-to-end encryption in text messaging between iPhone and Android phones resolves compatibility issues, Apple will still distinguish between messages sent on its proprietary iMessage and other systems.
This means blue bubbles for communication between Apple users and green bubbles for messages sent via RCS, SMS, or MMS, including cross-platform communication. The distinction has long been jokingly described as discriminatory, giving rise to the so-called “green bubble stigma.”
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“iMessage was built with privacy in mind and has always been end-to-end encrypted. It remains the best way to communicate between Apple devices,” the company said in a blog post.
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While the bubbles will remain green, users will know that a conversation is end-to-end encrypted when they see a new lock icon in their RCS chats, according to Apple.
Encryption is on by default and will be automatically enabled over time for new and existing RCS conversations as the feature rolls out more widely.
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