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Is this the end for texting?<\/p>\n
getty<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s most significant change<\/a> to texting in 15 years is nearly here. If you believe the headlines, messaging from iPhone to Android will be as secure as iMessage when the iMaker adds end-to-end encrypted RCS. But the reality is different \u2014 as millions will now find out. Apple is not killing its infamous green bubbles at all. <\/p>\n When iMessage was released in 2011, it was secured from the start. Every message sent on that platform has always been end-to-end encrypted. But it has only ever worked between Apple devices, despite attempts to break into the walled garden. That\u2019s what\u2019s behind various warnings for smartphone users to \u201cstop texting<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Is this the end for texting?<\/p>\n getty<\/p>\n When you see blue bubbles, Apple<\/a> says, \u201cyour conversations are encrypted end-to-end, so they can\u2019t be read while they\u2019re sent between devices.\u201d Normal SMS text messaging uses green bubbles to flag those messages as not secured. Cue the FBI\u2019s 2024 warning for U.S. citizens to quit texting for encrypted platforms.<\/p>\n Apple had already added RCS to iMessage by then, upgrading SMS. But with a warning: \u201cApple\u2019s implementation of RCS is based on the industry\u2019s standard. RCS messages aren\u2019t end-to-end encrypted, which means they\u2019re not protected from a third-party reading them while they’re sent between devices.”<\/p>\n With Apple\u2019s imminent RCS upgrade<\/a>, messages can now be end-to-end encrypted. But it\u2019s still based on \u201cindustry standards.\u201d That means bubbles will still be green. Encrypted RCS will fall back to unencrypted RCS and then to SMS, dependent upon whether all carriers and endpoints (phones) in the chat use the latest standards.<\/p>\n Contrast that with iMessage itself, which can never be unencrypted. Or with WhatsApp, which can also never be unencrypted and already works between iPhones and Androids. \u201cMessages and calls are end-to-end encrypted,\u201d WhatsApp says on every chat. Sending a WhatsApp is the same as Apple\u2019s blue bubbles.<\/p>\n The implementation of RCS within Google Messages is not as good as iMessage or WhatsApp, but it\u2019s still better than Apple\u2019s imminent RCS change. Google runs RCS as its core messaging protocol, but it doesn\u2019t fully rely on carriers. It uses its own servers as an over-the-top platform to run RCS as Android\u2019s quasi-iMessage.<\/p>\n This leaves two problems with Apple\u2019s RCS upgrade. Texting between iPhones and Androids can still be unencrypted given it is standards-based. Green bubbles are green bubbles. Instead of \u201cSMS,\u201d the chat bar now says \u201cRCS,\u201d which will become \u201cEncrypted RCS,\u201d with a padlock symbol. But it\u2019s not the iMessage experience.<\/p>\n Second, because this is carrier-based rather than a direct interface between Apple\u2019s and Google\u2019s proprietary systems, it will remain patchy. Because Google encrypts RCS on its own platform, it can enable all users<\/a> with updated apps to message securely. Just like iMessage and WhatsApp. That will not be the case when the new RCS protocol goes live<\/a>. Androids to iPhone messaging will not be the same.<\/p>\n