In a transfer that might assist get EU regulators off its again, Apple is making it simpler for iPhone and Android customers to textual content each other. And with the change goes a few of Apple’s clout.
The iPhone maker in late 2024 will combine the Wealthy Communication Providers (RCS) messaging customary, a extra superior textual content supply system throughout totally different manufacturers of telephones, 9to5Mac first reported on Thursday. The protocol will assist some iMessage options for textual content chains that embrace an Android consumer, together with indicators {that a} message has been learn by a recipient and that they’re typing, and the flexibility to ship high-quality photographs and movies.
Apple didn’t reply to questions on particular iMessage options that RCS might undertake. Among the many prospects are assist for “liking” or “emphasizing” texts, or sending messages with visible results, like “invisible ink” and “balloons.”
Beforehand, texts between iPhone and non-iPhone customers despatched through SMS (Brief Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), techniques created in 1992 and 2002, which have been criticized for being outdated. RCS was created in 2007 as a safer different with extra subtle options, and it’s the usual communication platform between Google and Samsung telephones.
“We believe RCS Universal Profile will offer a better interoperability experience when compared to SMS or MMS,” an Apple spokesperson instructed 9to5Mac. “This will work alongside iMessage, which will continue to be the best and most secure messaging experience for Apple users.”
For greater than a decade, messages between iPhones appeared in an azure shade for Apple customers, whereas messages with a non-iPhone consumer appeared lime inexperienced. The blue textual content bubbles have change into considerably of a standing image amongst younger customers, with Androiders excluded from iPhone group texts to keep the blue bubble aesthetic and inexperienced texts jokingly thought-about a red flag amongst some singles within the courting scene. Apple has accepted the social standing related to its product and the enterprise it drives, blocking the extra superior RCS customary from its units till now.
It’s unclear if the adoption of RCS means the inexperienced textual content bubbles will change to blue—Apple didn’t reply to Fortune’s question about it—however integrating a extra superior messaging protocol for communication with non-iPhones is a serious concession by the corporate. Whereas the announcement doesn’t imply non-iPhone customers get entry to iMessage, it does imply the partitions round Apple’s iMessage empire are coming down. iMessage will stay the first messaging platform between iPhone customers.
Apple’s change didn’t occur in a vacuum. In current months, the EU has compelled Apple to vary quite a lot of its practices to enhance competitors and shopper comfort. New EU rules required all cellphone corporations to supply a standard USB-C charging port by the tip of 2024, which put a highlight on Apple and its incompatible 11-year-old Lightning Cable. For the most recent iPhone 15, the corporate changed its proprietary port with the EU-friendly (and Android-friendly) USB-C. Apple plans on changing its App Retailer insurance policies to adjust to the EU’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA), which might imply providing third-party shops on its units and slicing into the revenue from Apple’s App Retailer monopoly.
The RCS integration wasn’t required by the EU, but it surely could be a technique to appease regulators and restrict future issues. The EU Fee is weighing whether or not iMessage falls below the DMA’s purview, and a call that it does would imply Apple might need to enhance the interoperability of its units anyway. The transfer can be considerably of a counter-lobbying technique. Google has lobbied the Commission to control iMessage below the DMA. By taking a proactive strategy and introducing the RCS customary, Apple weakens Google’s case and should clear up the issue the DMA intends to sort out.
