© Unsplash/Keith Luke
On a web page dedicated to the Google Messages app, Alphabet has just revealed a key date: RCS will be compatible with iOS this fall. Apple had not yet revealed this major information, contenting itself with telling us that its operating system would finally welcome the universal standard in 2024. This is big news, because for a long time month, the Apple firm had only announced that this major new feature would only arrive on our mobiles later this year. Without indicating a more precise date, therefore.
RCS (for “rich communication services”) allows interoperability of message communications between different operating systems. This is a standard which aims, in the long term, to replace the traditional SMS format. Many manufacturers have already decided to get up to speed: Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo and even Google – to name just a few. But as is often the case, Apple balked, preferring its own alternative called iMessage.
An announcement in June ?
From June 10 to 14, the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) will be held in California, an event organized by Apple for, as its name suggests, app creators. During this show, we should discover many new features, including, most likely, improvements to iOS and boosted by artificial intelligence. And as no other keynote seems planned in advance, we can also count on the announcement of the RCS release date on iPhone, at the same time as WWDC.
Otherwise, you should know that Cupertino also does not hesitate to sometimes reveal new features through a simple press release. This is also how the iPad Pro and iPad Air of 2024 could see the light of day, before the end of spring.
The first devices equipped with RCS could be all iPhones which are already compatible with iOS 17, and it is an additional variation of this platform which could bring the change. Around September, Apple should then introduce the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, as well as the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. The latter should then run automatically under iOS 18, with RCS also on the menu.
The significant advantages of RCS
What does the RCS change, concretely, for users ? First of all, you should know that this standard offers us the possibility of reacting to a message received with an emoji. This is already possible on Android with Messages or on iOS with the eponymous app, only reactions are not correctly transmitted between the two platforms, precisely due to lack of interoperability.< /p>
With RCS, we know that it is also possible to send and receive much larger files (images, videos…) . Snapshots, in particular, are supported with a higher resolution. Additionally, audio recordings are also cross-platform, with the new standard.
Another improvement, which some already know with the iMessage format or with Instagram: RCS allows you to keep your correspondent informed, if you are writing by typing text on the keyboard, and regardless of your OS . Acknowledgments are also interoperable, and group conversations are improved.
This integration of the RCS is part of a global policy of opening to competition started at Apple during the Tim Cook era, and in particular since the European Commission or the American Senate are trying to limit the growing power of GAFAM. The proof is with the DMA (Digital Markets Act), which legislates by forcing tech giants to offer more opportunities to less powerful companies. The update to iOS 17.4 allows for example to install third-party apps without using the App Store, on the Old Continent.
- Apple has announced that iPhones will be compatible with RCS in 2024
- Google confirms the file, specifying the date by citing a availability from fall
- The RCS allows the interoperability of messages and reactions, of a system of’ exploitation at the other
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