Last night, in a rather surprising move, Apple announced RCS support. Google happy, Nothing happy and all Android users happy. The reason? There are a number of iPhone features that will also be available on Android next year. Just the way it should be.
Nothing showed balls earlier this week with its Chats app, finally bringing iMessage to Android. A few days later, Apple announced the arrival of RCS support. Coincidence? We don’t think so, but iMessage is still staying away from Android.
Apple introduces RCS support for iPhone
Before I tell you exactly what more your Android smartphone can do now that the iPhone supports RCS, it might be helpful to briefly explain what exactly is going on.
Companies like Google and Samsung have practically been angry at Apple for years because the American company does not support RCS on the iPhone. It was good for the discussion between the green bubbles and the blue bubbles.
A discussion that I explain to you at length here, but comes down to the fact that Apple is handing out so many restrictions to Android on iMessage that it was starting to get a little unfair.
“This is not Apple opening up iMessage to other platforms,” the company let source 9to5Mac know. But at least it will make messaging via Android and iPhone a lot easier, more pleasant and safer.
What is RCS support?
Rich Communication Services, that’s the full name of RCS. It is an advanced form for exchanging messages between different devices. Sort of like you’re used to with SMS or even MMS.
However, SMS only allows you to send text messages and MMS has its limitations. For example, through it, it is only possible to send images and videos. RCS goes one step further.
Thanks to RCS it is possible to see when someone is writing a message, get receipt confirmations, start group conversations and send various high-quality media files.
Apple enables these Android features
Once Apple launches its RCS support early next year, Android users will notice certain things that can be done with the Messages app. Especially the moment you are in contact with someone with an iPhone.
To give you a clear idea of exactly what you can do, a small overview:
Sharing photos and videos in high quality with iPhone
As crazy as it is, Android users could not send high-quality photos to iPhone users via the messaging app. Thanks to RCS support, they finally can.
Messages from your Android finally encrypted
Messages between Android and iPhone are actually secure for the first time. Thanks to end-to-end encryption, the RCS standard provides more secure communication than with the SMS or MMS standard currently in use.
RCS lets iPhone user see when you type
Small application, perhaps so nice. Anyone tapping a message from an Android smartphone to someone with an iPhone will trigger a typing indicator. So, like iMessage, they can just see when someone with an Android is typing.
In addition, it is also possible to respond to slightly more features, making a conversation between iPhone and Android feel like an iMessage conversation.
Android users can finally get out of group conversations
It really is too crazy for words that this was not already the case, but thanks to RCS support, people with Android can finally get out of group conversations without having to block all participants. So thanks to RCS on the iPhone, that will be possible starting next year.
Afraid of Europe again
As I explained to you earlier this week, the debate between green and blue is quite spicy in the United States, but we don’t have much to do with it here in the Netherlands.
Apple also uses that argument to ensure that the strict European Digital Markets Act (Digital Markets Regulation) does not apply to them. Still, the European Union is working like crazy to bring technology companies to their knees, so Apple seems to be doing this already as a precaution.
The Digital Markets Act?
The Digital Markets Act, also known as the Digital Markets Regulation, is a European regulation developed by the European Commission.
The aim is to ensure a higher degree of competition in European digital markets, prevent large companies from abusing their market power and pave the way for new players in the market.
Online I find some hilarious responses to this, such as someone on TikTok letting it be known that Europe currently does more for Apple, than Apple does for Apple. And while that is obviously not the case on a financial level, consumers do seem to really benefit from the EU’s actions.
In addition to USB-C on your iPhone and an open App Store, Facebook and Instagram, for example, are also no longer allowed to show personalized ads. But I’ll tell you all about that in the article below: