Is this the end for texting?

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Apple’s most significant change 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 — as millions will now find out. Apple is not killing its infamous green bubbles at all.

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’s what’s behind various warnings for smartphone users to “stop texting.”

When you see blue bubbles, Apple says, “your conversations are encrypted end-to-end, so they can’t be read while they’re sent between devices.” Normal SMS text messaging uses green bubbles to flag those messages as not secured. Cue the FBI’s 2024 warning for U.S. citizens to quit texting for encrypted platforms.

Apple had already added RCS to iMessage by then, upgrading SMS. But with a warning: “Apple’s implementation of RCS is based on the industry’s standard. RCS messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted, which means they’re not protected from a third-party reading them while they're sent between devices."

With Apple’s imminent RCS upgrade, messages can now be end-to-end encrypted. But it’s still based on “industry standards.” 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.

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. “Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted,” WhatsApp says on every chat. Sending a WhatsApp is the same as Apple’s blue bubbles.

The implementation of RCS within Google Messages is not as good as iMessage or WhatsApp, but it’s still better than Apple’s imminent RCS change. Google runs RCS as its core messaging protocol, but it doesn’t fully rely on carriers. It uses its own servers as an over-the-top platform to run RCS as Android’s quasi-iMessage.

This leaves two problems with Apple’s RCS upgrade. Texting between iPhones and Androids can still be unencrypted given it is standards-based. Green bubbles are green bubbles. Instead of “SMS,” the chat bar now says “RCS,” which will become “Encrypted RCS,” with a padlock symbol. But it’s not the iMessage experience.

Second, because this is carrier-based rather than a direct interface between Apple’s and Google’s proprietary systems, it will remain patchy. Because Google encrypts RCS on its own platform, it can enable all users with updated apps to message securely. Just like iMessage and WhatsApp. That will not be the case when the new RCS protocol goes live. Androids to iPhone messaging will not be the same.

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This iPhone messaging upgrade is positioned as a solution to the warnings from the FBI and CISA to “stop texting,” with texting a shorthand for SMS and unencrypted RCS. But while texting is getting a much-needed upgrade, the way it’s being done means you won’t be able to stop texting at all. Not now, likely not ever.

Unsecured texting between phones is not going away — warnings still stand. If you see a green bubble, check carefully before hitting send. For many users, this will be just be another reason to stop texting and use encrypted platforms instead.