Apple added RCS support to iPhone with iOS 18.1, enabling richer cross-platform messaging between iPhone and Android users. This included things like typing indicators, read receipts, and high-resolution photo and video attachments.
Last March, Apple announced its plans to add support for end-to-end encryption for RCS messages.
Now, iOS 26.4 beta 1, which is rolling out today, adds an early way to test end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging on iPhone.
First, I want to note that what’s included in iOS 26.4 is a limited initial test of RCS end-to-end encrypted messaging that is meant for limited testing.
Additionally, the feature will not actually launch as part of the iOS 26.4 update. Apple says that end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging will be available to customers in a future iOS 26 software update.
Here’s how it works.
What’s new in iOS 26.4
iOS 26.4 adds a new toggle in the Settings app that enables support for testing end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging. This toggle is enabled by default.
However, Apple says the capability will gradually roll out to beta users and become available to more users throughout the testing period. So, just because you see the toggle in Settings does not mean you’ll actually be able to test RCS encrypted messaging.
In this initial test implementation of the feature, RCS encryption is available only on iPhone-to-iPhone messaging. So, that essentially means communication between iPhone users who have iMessage disabled.
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