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Updated, April 21: This article, first published on Saturday, April 18, was updated with further information about what’s coming when and additional corroboration.
In the coming weeks, Apple will release the next big iPhone software update, iOS 26.5. If the beta releases are a guide, it will include a huge update to messaging. Here’s what to expect and when the update will be released.
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For the first time ever, messages sent between iPhone and Android handsets will be end-to-end encrypted and more innovations will come onstream in due course.
And there’s another reason to think the move to introducing RCS in the iOS 26.5 update will happen comes from a respected source, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
In his Power On newsletter on Sunday, April 19, Gurman responded to the question, “What’s new in iOS 26.5?” with a series of answers. First he talked about how the new Siri wouldn’t be coming just yet: “Apple’s recent plan was to include previously announced Siri features like the ability to tap into user data in iOS 26.5 (after it was delayed from 26.4) and then introduce other new features (discussed above) as part of iOS 27 in June,” he wrote.
Although he then described the list of new features coming as “light,” he then specifically name-checked RCS. “Besides the usual fixes, the 26.5 rundown includes encryption for rich communication services, or RCS, as well as previously announced ads in Apple Maps and tweaks to Apple Books,” Gurman said.
Finally, he listed other changes coming in iOS 26.5. “There’s also improved pairing for the Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse to iOS. That allows users to pair to Bluetooth by plugging them in via a cable,” Gurman added.
The adoption of RCS 4.0, expected later, will bring native support for video calls within messaging apps, alongside rich text features and higher-quality media. This means messages will be “more expressive,” as the GSMA put it, with styling such as bold and italics, higher quality video and audio and more.
There are other features coming to RCS when it reaches version 4.0 but Rich Cards is one of the most interesting.
The encrypted messaging update is the most important change and could arrive as soon as iOS 26.5. Apple announced in the release notes for the iOS 26.4 developer beta that it was being tested, adding, “This feature is not shipping in this release and will be available to customers in future iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS 26 releases.”
There is no mention of the feature in the release notes for the second beta of iOS 26.5, but the toggle has returned to the settings menu for testers, which suggests things still look optimistic right now.
The changes are down to the Rich Communication Services Universal Profile, versions 3.0 and 3.1. But the Global System for Mobile Communications Association, in charge of the profile, has announced the finalization of version 4.0, expected to be adopted in the coming months.
There’ll also be video streaming and improved user experience for business messaging, with embedded Rich Cards. “This will ensure users remain within the messaging app for quick actions like viewing a restaurant menu, while for more complex actions, such as payments, they can be directed to a dedicated application,” the GSMA said.
The new features won’t all come at once, as RCS 4.0 is expected to be introduced much later. However, the secure messaging will be front-and-center whenever the testing is over and the RCS is properly implemented.
It’s looking likely that this will be in iOS 26.5. Note, though, that there’s another angle to this update: the carriers. The new features such as secure chats will also be dependent on which carriers take them up, and when.
My guess is that none of them will want to be left behind, and they will likely make a point of letting users know when they are being introduced.
But it could mean that the secure messaging will work between phones on T-Mobile, for instance, whether the hardware is iPhone or Android, but not if the message goes from T-Mobile to AT&T. I’m picking those carriers at random — support hasn’t been announced by any networks yet.
As the second developer and public beta releases are currently live, Apple seems to be following a schedule that matches recent years. On this basis, the most likely release date is fast approaching: Monday, May 11. It’s also possible that later in that week, or even Monday, May 18, are in the frame.
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