With the release of the second developer beta of iOS 26.4 today, Apple has enabled support for end-to-end encrypted RCS communication between iPhone and Android devices. The feature was added in the first beta of iOS 26.4; however, it was limited to communication between two iPhones with iMessage disabled.
With this beta, Apple has expanded this support to include Android devices as well, according to Apple’s Developer Release Notes, which says, “In this beta, RCS end-to-end encryption will become available for testing between Apple and Android devices. This feature is not shipping in this release and will be available to customers in future iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS 26 releases. End-to-end encryption is in beta and is not available for all devices or carriers. Conversations labeled as encrypted are encrypted end-to-end, so messages can’t be read while they’re sent between devices. (170160585)”
If you are a developer and running the latest beta, the feature can be enabled by navigating to Settings>Messages> RCS Messaging and turning on End-to-End Encryption. Android users need to install the latest version of the Google Messages App to use this feature.
As mentioned in Apple’s Developer Release Notes, the feature will not be available with the final public version of iOS 26.4, but rather in a later iOS 26 version.
Do you currently use RCS on your iPhone? Let us know down in the comments or write to us on @appleosophy! Be sure to download the Appleosophy App from the App Store or visit our website to stay updated with the latest Apple news!
