Messages sent via iPhone might finally get secure RCS with iOS 26.3

With iOS 18, Apple finally brought RCS – the modern standard for text messaging – to the iPhones. It allowed users to send high-res photos to Android friends without them looking like a pixelated potato, but it was missing one crucial thing: security.

Unlike iMessage, those green bubble chats were not end-to-end encrypted. That meant your carrier, or anyone capable of intercepting the data, could technically read your texts. Thankfully, it might be fixed soon.

Texting your Android friends will get more secure

Apple released the second beta of iOS 26.3 this Tuesday, and it looks promising. A French developer known as Tiino-X83 went digging through the internal files and found a new toggle hidden in the carrier bundles. It is explicitly labelled “SupportsE2EE.”

Basically, this suggests Apple is getting ready to support RCS Universal Profile 3.0. That is the specific technical standard required to scramble your messages so only you and the person you are texting can read them. Currently, iOS uses an older version called 2.4, which is why your cross-platform chats are still somewhat exposed.

If this actually ships, you will likely see a little lock icon pop up in your chat, just like on Google Messages. It could also open the door for other missing features like in-line replies and the ability to edit or unsend messages sent to Android phones.

Right now, this code only appears for four specific carriers in France. So, Apple might just be testing it regionally.

There is another surprise in this update, too. If you have ever tried to switch from an iPhone to an Android, you know it used to be a headache involving cables and turning off FaceTime manually. Turns out, Apple is streamlining that.

You can now head to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone and find a dedicated “Transfer to Android” button. It walks you through moving your photos, messages, and apps with way less friction.