End-to-end Encryption is Coming for RCS on iOS, Apple Confirms

The arrival of RCS support for Apple devices a while back was a much-welcome addition for many users (especially those outside the US), although the feature’s initial implementation originally lacked end-to-end encryption (E2EE), creating a vulnerability for people messaging between iPhones and Android phones.

That all might change soon, however – the GSM Association has recently published new specifications for E2EE between different platforms, something that’s been long available for Android users, and iMessage users. In relation to this, Apple recently stated that it will bring over E2EE to RCS messaging on its device platforms, saying:

We’ve always been committed to providing a secure messaging experience, and Google Messages users have had end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) RCS messaging for years. We’re excited to have this updated specification from GSMA and work as quickly as possible with the mobile ecosystem to implement and extend this important user protection to cross-platform RCS messaging.

E2EE support on RCS for Apple platforms was mentioned as far back as September of last year, although it did take a while for Apple to fully implement it onto its different operating systems, as we’re just seeing.

Source: GSMArena