Why you should stop texting.
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When the FBI and other agencies warned Americans to “stop texting,” it became one of the viral tech stories of the year. It even triggered Snopes to check the facts. “Yes,” it confirmed. “FBI announced texting between iPhone and Android is not secure.”.
This is about end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp, Signal and iMessage are secure. But only within platforms. WhatsApp to WhatsApp, Signal to Signal, iMessage to iMessage. Google’s approach is different. Its Messages platform wraps RCS with end-to-end encrypted endpoints, essentially sending RCS messages in secure envelopes.
But a new report now suggests fully encrypted RCS messaging may come with the iOS 26 upgrade this fall. If so. you should still “stop texting,” but only because you can use fully encrypted RCS between iMessage and Google Messages instead of texts.
Earlier this year, Google and the mobile standards setting GSMA confirmed a new RCS protocol would be the first to offer cross-platform end-to-end encryption. This will fully secure RCS messages regardless of the endpoints. For the first time, stock Android to iPhone messages will be secure. As will Android messages between different RCS apps.
As Apple confirmed at the time, “we are pleased to have helped lead a cross industry effort to bring end-to-end encryption to the RCS Universal Profile published by the GSMA. We will add support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messages to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS in future software updates.”
RCS encryption in iOS 26 pre-release code.
Android Authority
We know Google has been preparing the MLS (Messaging Layer Security) that’s being used to make this happen. And now we know Apple ias doing the same — finally. Per Android Authority, “We’ve now spotted code that suggests end-to-end encryption could be coming to RCS messages on iPhones as early as iOS 26.”
The website says pre-release code “suggests Apple will be using the MLS protocol introduced by GSMA’s Universal Profile 3.0, developed with Apple’s involvement.”
It’s no exaggeration to say this is the biggest change to iMessage in 14 years — it launched its iun-house end-to-end encryption in 2011, and since then has fought a battle to restrict this to its own walled garden. That is about to end.
It’s not all good news. Android Authority also points out that “Apple doesn’t appear to be adding features like group icons and mentions, so there’s a good chance that the company sticks to only features like encryption and keeps it barebones.”
That is manageable. Encryption is the key here — literally. For the first time, there’s no security reason to use WhatsApp instead of Google Messages or iMessage. While you might use Signal or similar for additional security benefits, iPhone users can stop sending texts and use RCS instead, just as you use iMessage today.
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