Here’s how to check if end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging is enabled on your iPhone in iOS 26.5 and active in a given conversation.

When the IBM PC was new, I served as the president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years. That’s how I met PCMag’s editorial team, who brought me on board in 1986. In the years since that ...

Apple joined the RCS bandwagon last year, giving its users the ability to exchange rich text messages with their Android counterparts. The only problem? Those messages are not encrypted, exposing them ...

Google is pressing forward with the evolution of RCS by quietly rolling out tests for Messaging Layer Security (MLS), the protocol meant to finally bring true cross-platform end-to-end encryption to ...

Texts sent from an iPhone to an Android phone can now be end-to-end encrypted, the same protection that has always covered iMessages between two iPhones. The feature is on by default, and qualifying ...

The changes in Apple’s iOS 26.5 include end-to-end encryption for messages sent between iPhones and Android devices.

The new feature, which is meant to increase security and privacy, isn't available to all iPhone users.

The beta feature for enterprise accounts allows Gmail users to simply toggle encryption for external emails. The beta feature for enterprise accounts allows Gmail users to simply toggle encryption for ...

RCS is the modern upgrade to SMS and MMS, bringing better photos, read receipts, typing indicators, group chats, and growing iPhone-Android support in 2026.

Your iPhone RCS chats with Android are encrypted in iOS 26.5: How to verify E2E is enabled ...

If you downloaded iOS 26.5, your device can now access the secure messaging protocol as long as your carrier supports it.

Apple may be close to implementing encryption for RCS messages. The signs of this were reportedly discovered in iOS 26.3 Beta 2. This will finally enable encrypted messaging between Android and Apple ...