A9 STUDIO/Shutterstock
iPhone users have often been frustrated by the Android green bubble — Apple’s indication that a message was transmitted as an SMS or MMS rather than an iMessage. SMS messaging dates back to 1992, and these texts generally miss out on the contemporary features that iMessage offers, like emoji reactions, typing alerts, and delivery confirmations. Up until 2019, Android devices solely communicated with iPhones using SMS or MMS. In such cases, media is compressed, leading to poorer video and image quality, and texts appear in a green bubble rather than a blue one.
Currently, Android employs a different messaging standard known as Rich Communication Services, or RCS. RCS enables Android users to exchange high-resolution images and videos and to enjoy modern features like read receipts and typing indicators. It has been the norm for Android devices since 2019. However, messaging between Android and iPhone users still wasn’t ideal until Apple introduced iOS 18 in 2024, which added RCS support to iPhones. Here’s how it has transformed messaging between iPhones and Androids.