Here’s how to check if end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging is enabled on your iPhone in iOS 26.5 and active in a given conversation.

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that ...

Apple joined the RCS bandwagon last year, giving its users the ability to exchange rich text messages with their Android counterparts. The only problem? Those messages are not encrypted, exposing them ...

Texts sent from an iPhone to an Android phone can now be end-to-end encrypted, the same protection that has always covered iMessages between two iPhones. The feature is on by default, and qualifying ...

Google is pressing forward with the evolution of RCS by quietly rolling out tests for Messaging Layer Security (MLS), the protocol meant to finally bring true cross-platform end-to-end encryption to ...

The latest Google Messages beta supports MLS encryption, RCS’s next step toward E2EE interoperability across apps and platforms. We managed to enable MLS for one-on-one RCS conversations in Google ...

The changes in Apple’s iOS 26.5 include end-to-end encryption for messages sent between iPhones and Android devices.

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages between iPhone and Android devices is coming in iOS 26.5, Apple confirmed today. The feature is listed in Apple's iOS 26.5 release notes. Apple says ...

Apple has released the latest iOS 26.5 beta, and it brings a familiar feature to the Messages app as the RCS technology sees the return of end-to-end encryption. Apple Messages' RCS Sees End-to-End ...

Your iPhone RCS chats with Android are encrypted in iOS 26.5: How to verify E2E is enabled ...

Apple says it will add support for a new Rich Communication Services (RCS) specification that includes end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for messages sent over the protocol in future software updates. "End ...