How to enable RCS messaging on your iPhone

Several iPhone users around the world started their week being introduced to iOS 18. The update, which was first announced at WWDC 2024, brought in a host of new features to the devices. From a complete overhaul of the Photos app to having the liberty to customise the look and feel of the phone, there’s a lot you can do with Apple’s ‘biggest update ever’.

Despite being mentioned in passing at the developer’s conference, Apple’s inclusion of RCS (Rich Communication Services) support for Messages is certainly another big leap for the brand. Apart from bringing in a more seamless texting experience, it also brings in a variety of features such as typing indicators and high-quality media sharing, to iOS.

And if you’re wondering if you’re eligible to use it, we have everything you might need to know.

What is RCS messaging on iOS?

If you’ve been a long-term iOS user, you probably already know how texting your Android friends is nothing short of a chore. Apart from dealing with low-quality SMS and MMS messages, several other drawbacks included limited message length and almost no interactive features.

ALSO READ: RCS vs SMS messages: What is the difference?

But that changes with iOS 18. For starters, RCS will bring in iMessage-style features for communication exchange between Android and iOS devices. This essentially means users will be able to enjoy features such as ‘Delivered’ or ‘Typing’ indicators, and high-quality media exchange, among some of the changes.

How to enable RCS messages on your iOS device

Before you go ahead and try, it is important to ensure your device is eligible or updated to the latest OS version, in this case, iOS 18. Once updated, you can then verify if your network carrier supports the RCS messaging switch. With both these aspects out of the way, you can now go ahead and enable it on your iPhone with the following few steps:

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone

Step 2: Look for Apps at the bottom of the list

Step 3: Tap on Messages and then Text Messaging within the list of options

Step 4: Within this, you should find an RCS Messaging option; tap on it

Step 5: Tap the toggle switch next to it to enable it for your device

After this, messaging an Android smartphone user should feel a lot like messaging yet another iPhone. That said, green bubbles are still here to stay. Alternatively, you can disable RCS support for Messaging the same way by following the steps mentioned above.