The curious case of RCS UP 3.0 (missing)

[TimFL1]

So what's the general consensus on Apple seemingly not adding UP 3.0 to iOS 26? Apple announced this as coming in March. While they only mentioned it coming in a "future software update" (probably key wording, seeing as they e.g. mentioned RCS coming as next year in 2023), I still think it's strange that this is notably absent with Apple being contributors to MLS in RCS. They probably should have this working by now?

My guess is that they simply saw no need to rush this out for 26.0, seeing as Google also drags their feet with implementing MLS in Google Messages. I know that we had MLS traces in GM builds for a year already, but Google has still not come out and publicly announced or gave an update about MLS in GM. Apple probably figures, if the other party is not pushing this, why should we be first to market and take away the spotlight from iMessage security?

There is always the chance that this drops in a future 26.0 Beta build, but it's highly unlikely due to the fact that they mention no RCS enhancements whatsoever anywhere (keynote, slides, marketing pages and even change notes have 0 results for RCS). My guess is this is 26.x at the end of the year at the earliest (probably 2026, if we're unlucky).

That being said, did any Beta 1 testers notice any differences with RCS? I'm particularly interested about the following aspects:
- Do typing indicators also work in RCS groups (could be a first hint at UP 3.0 being slowly implemented)
- Any other UP 3.0 functionality present (e.g. edit messages + undo send without other iOS users in the group, proper reactions support for e.g. media content, inline replies without other iOS users present -> "without other iOS users present" = iMessage features are enabled between iOS users in cross-platform group chats, that was added back in iOS 17 so can skim results)
- Is RCS overall more reliable, particularly when changing network conditions (e.g. going from mobile to wifi) where it usually had to reconnect and showed SMS for a few seconds
- Does it still fall back to SMS / MMS in groups when RCS is momentarily unavailable?
- Can you finally leave group chats with 3 or less participants?

For reference: https://www.theverge.com/news/629620/apple-iphone-e2ee-encryption-rcs-messaging-android

 

[ChemGolf]

I'm also very keen on having e2ee in RCS! But I'm still confident that they'll add it to a future beta release, as they did last year when they introduced it.

 

[gmanist1000]

Either it will come in a later beta release, or seemingly a 26.1 or 26.2 release.

 

[DakotaGuy]

The GSMA just published the RCS Universal Profile 3.0 in March so it's likely not ready at this time. I think Apple has learned their lesson about announcing features that aren't ready ahead of time after last year's AI announcements that never happened. They only claimed it would be added in a future software update so it's very likely it'll be added in a later beta or a 26.x update.

 

[TimFL1]

They did at least add typing indicators to RCS groups, screenshot from a reddit user:

Could just be iOS iMessage magic happening here for iOS users, seeing as I don‘t think that iMessage typing indicators payloads are identical to RCS ones. So either it‘s iMessage exclusive or they went ahead and implemented the UP typing indicators spec too.

 

[earthdog]

So what's the general consensus on Apple seemingly not adding UP 3.0 to iOS 26? Apple announced this as coming in March. While they only mentioned it coming in a "future software update" (probably key wording, seeing as they e.g. mentioned RCS coming as next year in 2023), I still think it's strange that this is notably absent with Apple being contributors to MLS in RCS. They probably should have this working by now?

My guess is that they simply saw no need to rush this out for 26.0, seeing as Google also drags their feet with implementing MLS in Google Messages. I know that we had MLS traces in GM builds for a year already, but Google has still not come out and publicly announced or gave an update about MLS in GM. Apple probably figures, if the other party is not pushing this, why should we be first to market and take away the spotlight from iMessage security?

There is always the chance that this drops in a future 26.0 Beta build, but it's highly unlikely due to the fact that they mention no RCS enhancements whatsoever anywhere (keynote, slides, marketing pages and even change notes have 0 results for RCS). My guess is this is 26.x at the end of the year at the earliest (probably 2026, if we're unlucky).

That being said, did any Beta 1 testers notice any differences with RCS? I'm particularly interested about the following aspects:
- Do typing indicators also work in RCS groups (could be a first hint at UP 3.0 being slowly implemented)
- Any other UP 3.0 functionality present (e.g. edit messages + undo send without other iOS users in the group, proper reactions support for e.g. media content, inline replies without other iOS users present -> "without other iOS users present" = iMessage features are enabled between iOS users in cross-platform group chats, that was added back in iOS 17 so can skim results)
- Is RCS overall more reliable, particularly when changing network conditions (e.g. going from mobile to wifi) where it usually had to reconnect and showed SMS for a few seconds
- Does it still fall back to SMS / MMS in groups when RCS is momentarily unavailable?
- Can you finally leave group chats with 3 or less participants?

For reference: https://www.theverge.com/news/629620/apple-iphone-e2ee-encryption-rcs-messaging-android

Apple will not make a public splash for a competing technology. They really didn't before and WWDC is not the place to discuss.

 

[TimFL1]

Apple will not make a public splash for a competing technology. They really didn't before and WWDC is not the place to discuss.

They mentioned RCS support last year though. It was on the final bento grid slide as a tile with a green chat bubble and RCS in and Craig mentioned it at the same time. It was also displayed as a tile on their marketing page.

They also went out of their way to announce they‘d add E2EE to it in March, probably aligns with their privacy angle.

 

[TimFL1]

This is big: iOS 26 adds a TelephonyMessagingSDK that allows third parties to send and manage RCS/SMS/MMS as a new default app.

Phone and text messages: Apple opens up core iPhone functions in the EU

RCS/SMS messages and telephony have always only been available in Apple's Phone and Messages app. That will change soon.

www.heise.de

TelephonyMessagingKit | Apple Developer Documentation

Send and receive standards-based messages over cellular networks.

developer.apple.com

The SDK documentation also confirms that there is no UP 3.0 functionality yet (I sifted through all methods and structs, no trace of emoji reactions, undo / edit messages or inline replies).

 

[greg624]

They did at least add typing indicators to RCS groups, screenshot from a reddit user: View attachment 2518772

Could just be iOS iMessage magic happening here for iOS users, seeing as I don‘t think that iMessage typing indicators payloads are identical to RCS ones. So either it‘s iMessage exclusive or they went ahead and implemented the UP typing indicators spec too.

definitely a prt of RCS and not iMessage. I had this too, but the person typing definitely had android.

 

[TimFL1]

definitely a prt of RCS and not iMessage. I had this too, but the person typing definitely had android.

Yep a friend of mine is on the beta and confirmed that it also shows up for Android participants. Guess there is out RCS feature update.