Google says Apple will bring RCS to iPhone in fall 2024

Android site added a file New landing page Google Messages talks about the first-party messaging experience, while also indicating that RCS on iPhone will be coming in the fall of 2024.

A section describing the benefits of RCS — higher-resolution photos/videos, typing indicators, a better group chat experience — talks about how it's “coming soon to iOS.”

Apple has announced that it will adopt RCS in the fall of 2024. Once that happens, it will mean a better messaging experience for everyone.

when Apple has made an RCS announcement In November of 2023, it provided a timeline for “later next year.” Most people assumed this meant iOS 18, not iOS 17. Google's mention today more or less confirms that. Meanwhile, it is not clear whether it will arrive with the initial 18.0 version or a .X/point update in the last few months of 2024.

In this section, Google also mentions that animated emoji interactions will “coming soon with RCS.” The current approach is handled through Google's Messages client, while iOS has something similar. This may indicate that interactions will be part of the RCS specification in the future.

This is actually the second product page for Google Messages, along with the original page messages.google.com. (This site has not been updated to reflect the removal of Google Photos integration.)

Meanwhile, Google identifies custom screen effects and bubbles as “currently in beta.” Speaking of Voice Moods, it's strange that there's no demo rating. to update: Some people have received Voice Moods, but it has not yet been rolled out widely in beta. This includes a redesigned Audio Recorder user interface, which opens half a pane instead of requiring you to long-press.

Elsewhere, Google offers a lot about Photomoji highlighting, spam blocking, end-to-end encryption, Magic Compose, the Wear OS app, the tablet experience, pushes/reminders, and voice transcription.

More about Google Messages: