Apple Caves

Apple held a two hour keynote session at the 2024 Worldwide Developers conference and, yet, might have buried the lede.

While we got the news last week about their AI integration, and how much that concerns Elon Musk, we didn’t hear much about their RCS support. Which, for most, is probably the bigger deal. In fact, Apple, themselves, barely even mentioned it.

In case you’re unfamiliar - “RCS” is Rich Communication Services, which is what Android phones use for their messaging. And now, Apple will be adding it.

So, why should you care? Well, this will allow iPhone users to send high-resolution pictures and videos to (and receive from) Android users. This will also allow for read receipts and typing indicators when texting with Android users, which was only available previously with iMessage. 

Now if Apple can find a way (choose?) to remove the green colored text, well, that might win them the next Presidential Election. But nevertheless, the disconnect between iPhones and Androids, at least in regards to text communication, seems to be closing.

These features will be part of the upcoming iOS 18, which will also allow you to bold and italicize text in iMessage and have the ability to schedule a text too.

Apple breezed over the RCS part of their announcement, as if to be ashamed that they’re seemingly extending an olive branch to their competitors, the Android. In fact, they even buried the news on their iOS 18 preview page and refused to refer to Android users by name.

Apple was the last hold out, as every other major carrier had already made the switch to RCS. This news was really years in the making. 

And for the most part, to the chagrin of Apple, this is probably bigger news than their AI integration, or anything else they shared last week. There’s a reason why Elon Musk hasn’t denounced Apple over THIS news!