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At long last, Android and iPhone users will be able to send each other end-to-end encrypted text messages. On Monday, end-to-end encrypted<\/a> messaging is starting to roll out in beta for conversations between iPhone and Android users running the most up-to-date software.<\/p>\n End-to-end encrypted (e2ee) messaging<\/a> is an important privacy feature that makes users far less susceptible to surveillance by hackers, governments, or the companies that make these communication platforms. When these messages are sent between devices, they\u2019re encrypted while in transit, making it near-impossible for anyone else to intercept and read the message. But until now, messages sent between iPhone and Android devices could not be end-to-end encrypted (e2ee), even though iMessage has been encrypted since its launch<\/a> in 2011, and Android users have been able to communicate<\/a> among themselves via e2ee since 2021.<\/p>\n Over the years, iOS and Android users have had clunky communications \u2014 Android users can\u2019t use Apple\u2019s proprietary iMessage, but Apple refused to support RCS messaging, a more sophisticated upgrade to decades-old SMS texting, since 2020. Now the industry-standard texting protocol, RCS brings features like typing indicators, read receipts, emoji reactions, longer message lengths, and encryption to text messages. But Apple didn\u2019t support RCS until 2023, once it finally caved<\/a> due to regulatory<\/a> pressure<\/a>.<\/p>\n Google had urged Apple<\/a> to support RCS texting to make communication between their devices more seamless \u2014 this was such an issue that people sincerely thought about \u201cgreen bubble stigma<\/a>,\u201d referring to the color of the message bubbles that iPhone users receive from Androids. <\/p>\n Until Apple started supporting RCS, it was a common headache for iPhone users to get texts from their Android-using friends that would break group chats, or result in terrible quality multimedia sharing. Now, Apple\u2019s long-awaited support of e2ee on RCS helps further close the gap between green and blue bubbles.<\/p>\n End-to-end encrypted RCS messaging has only begun to roll out in beta, so users may not have access just yet. If a conversation between Google and Apple devices is encrypted, the users will see a lock icon that indicates that the chat is protected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n