Texting between Android and iPhone may soon shed its old vulnerabilities and step into a much more secure era. After years of rich features with a critical security gap, a new cross-platform encryption breakthrough is in the works and it’s closer than ever.
The Missing Piece: RCS Lacks Encryption—Until Now
When Apple rolled out RCS support in iPhones with iOS 18, Android users finally began enjoying richer messaging features like high-resolution media, reactions, and better group chat experiences even in texts with iPhone users . But there was a glaring omission: RCS texts weren’t end-to-end encrypted, unlike iMessages or secure Android-to-Android chats.
A Cross-Industry Fix: Introducing MLS-Encrypted RCS
In March 2025, the GSMA rolled out the Universal Profile 3.0 that brings end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to RCS using the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol. This promises interoperability-based encryption across different platforms making RCS the first large-scale messaging standard with that capability. Apple helped lead and signaled they’re onboard: “We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates,” confirmed an Apple spokesperson.
Signs of Life: Encryption Code Appears in iOS 26 Beta
Code discovered in early iOS 26 beta builds shows that Apple is actively testing MLS-based encryption for RCS an encouraging sign that encrypted cross-platform texting could arrive soon. While nothing is officially confirmed for release, iOS 26 or perhaps 26.1 seems like the most plausible launch window Of course, it’s still possible Apple may delay implementation to even iOS 27; but for now, optimism is warranted.
Why This Matters
Privacy at scale: Once in place, no intermediaries neither carriers nor servers can read message contents, only sender and recipient devices can.
Unified experience: RCS will finally offer both rich features and strong security across Android and iPhone platforms.
More than just one-to-one: MLS encryption works for both individual and group chats.
Future-proofing: Combined with iMessage’s already strong encryption including Apple’s new post-quantum PQ3 protocol this move marks a major upgrade in cross-platform safety.
Bottom Line
If you’re tired of “green bubble” texts lacking both features and security, good news: Apple is working to encrypt RCS messages using the robust MLS standard. With code already in iOS 26 betas, secure Android–iPhone texting may be just a software update or two away.