Apple will add support for RCS to its Messages app with the IOS 18 release. Later this year, the standard will replace SMS and become the default protocol for communication between Android and iOS devices. This was reported by The Verge.

Unfortunately, the company did not go into details and showed only one example of RCS on the iPhone, where users can see the corresponding indicator.

RCS (Rich Communication Services) is a data transfer protocol that was developed to replace SMS and allows users to send messages over the Internet. The protocol already has rich functionality, including a read message indicator.

Support for this protocol will also allow users on Android and iOS to share files and photos in high quality, send longer messages, and generally improve communication between users of different platforms.

However, according to 9to5Mac, Apple has announced in a media commentary that it is adding support for RCS Universal Profile. This is a profile that has a slightly smaller set of features than the profile used by Google on Android.

Even so, the company still hasn’t specified which features will be supported, so we’ll just have to wait until Apple launches the new standard with more details.