Macworld When Apple released Messages with RCS support in iOS 18 last year, it was missing a key security feature: end-to-end encryption. At the time, Apple said it would wait until encryption was part of the RCS Universal Profile before bringing it to Messages.

Now, the GSM Association – the non-profit industry body that represents the world’s mobile network operators – confirms that a multitude of industry partners, including Apple, have collaborated on a new RCS standard that supports end-to-end encryption across multiple platforms.

The GSM Association said it had started working to enable E2EE on messages sent between Android and iPhone in September last year. E2EE is a privacy and security feature that prevents third parties, such as messaging providers or cell carriers,